Talks on Iran's nuclear program scheduled for today have been canceled by a senior Iranian envoy, moving Tehran a step closer to sanctions after it defied a Security Council deadline to freeze uranium enrichment. It was the third deadline in two weeks that has passed with Iran failing to declare it has stopped its enrichment program. European negotiators had persuaded the UN to allow an extension given what Tehran said was its preparedness to enter into serious talks.
The talks were to be a final attempt to see if there was any common ground to start negotiations between Iran and the P-5 + 1, but while the EU's Javier Solana had been ready to fly to the Austrian capital at short notice, the talks had been left hanging by uncertainty over whether Iranian nuclear envoy Ali Larijani would come.
"We will not have the meeting today in Vienna," Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, the chief Iranian envoy to the IAEA said. "Both sides are arranging for a couple of days later."
In Berlin tomorrow, senior negotiators from the P-5 + 1 will meet to plan their strategy on a sanctions package. In a further sign of Tehran's defiance, Iran's parliament took the first step Tuesday toward blocking international inspection of nuclear installations in case of sanctions. The measure would need approval by other bodies before it could take effect.
UPDATE 09/06 @ 14:05: Iranian state television reports that Larijani will hold talks with Solana on Thursday in Spain. Solana's office, however, said he was due to travel to Copenhagen for talks with Danish officials and would not return to Brussels until Friday afternoon. Solana's aides have said that he was ready to change plans at the last minute if needed.
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