UN nuclear watchdog calls Iran to return to nuclear talks

The United Nations atomic watchdog was on Friday finalizing a report expected to say that Iran has failed to suspend nuclear fuel work and which could trigger UN Security Council sanctions over fears Tehran is developing nuclear weapons, diplomats said.

"As far as we know, they have not suspended [nuclear fuel work] until this moment in time," a diplomat close to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Friday, adding no one expected any last-minute changes in Iran's position.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Thursday in Britain that the EU is "ready to go to the Security Council" for possible sanctions if Iran failed to heed an IAEA call to stop work on making atomic power-reactor fuel that could also be used to make weapons, reports Mail & Guardian.

According to Reuters, Iran insists its program is peaceful and says traces of bomb-grade uranium found in Iran by the U.N. nuclear watchdog in 2003 came from contaminated Pakistani centrifuge components.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman said Ali Larijani would arrive in Islamabad on Sunday evening or Monday morning.

"He is likely to tell us about Iran's discussions with the IAEA and the European Union on the nuclear issue," spokesman Muhammad Naeem Khan said.