Reuters, Vienna, 3 Sep 2014 – The United Nations nuclear watchdog is expected to issue a report this week showing little progress is being made in its long-running investigation into suspected atomic bomb research by Iran, diplomats said on Wednesday.
They said the quarterly International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on Iran was likely to confirm, as Reuters reported last week, that Tehran failed to meet a late August deadline for answering questions about its atomic activities.
Western officials may see the lack of movement as a setback for broader efforts to end a decade-old dispute over a nuclear program which Iran says is peaceful but which they fear may be aimed at developing a nuclear weapons capability.
They say Iran must address the IAEA’s concerns if there is to be any chance of success in parallel diplomatic negotiations with six world powers aimed at curbing the country’s nuclear work in exchange for a gradual ending of sanctions on Tehran.
The IAEA is expected to issue its confidential report to member states on Thursday or Friday, ahead of a Sept. 15-19 meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors.
There was no comment from the Vienna-based U.N. agency on Wednesday… But the diplomats said that while Iran and the IAEA may have started discussing the two issues, there was as yet no sign that Tehran had provided the requested information.