By DPA,
Vienna : Diplomats gathered in Vienna Monday for a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the stalemate with Iran over its nuclear programme – just days after Iran’s hard-line president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected.
Iran has ignored recent UN Security Council resolutions intended to get the country to halt its controversial uranium enrichment programme.
Instead, Tehran further expanded the enrichment plant in Natanz. It also did not cooperate with the IAEA over alleged studies related to nuclear weapons, the agency’s Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said in his latest report prepared for the regular meeting of the IAEA governing board this week.
President Ahmadinejad said Sunday he would not change his nuclear policies, while his defeated rival in last Friday’s election, Mir-Hossein Moussavi, had called for continuing talks with Western countries on this issue.
The 35 countries on the board were also scheduled this week to discuss the alleged secret nuclear programme in Syria, where the IAEA recently said it had found new traces of man-made uranium.