VIENNA (Reuters) – A U.N. watchdog report this week is expected to show little progress in an investigation into suspected nuclear weapons research by Iran, diplomats said on Wednesday, a potential sticking point in six world powers` diplomacy with Tehran.
The quarterly report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran`s nuclear program, due on Thursday or Friday, is likely to say that Iran has still not provided information that it was supposed to do more than two months ago.
The confidential document will be issued to IAEA member states less than three weeks before a self-imposed Nov. 24 deadline.
Western officials say Iran must step up cooperation with the IAEA to help clarify its long-standing concerns as part of a diplomatic settlement.
Iran has promised since Hassan Rouhani become president last year to work with the IAEA. But it failed to address two specific areas of the U.N. agency`s inquiry by Aug. 20, as it had agreed to do, diplomats said.
“What is needed now is concrete action on the part of Iran to resolve all the outstanding issues,” IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said in Washington last week, adding that progress in recent months had been limited.
Wed Nov 5, 2014