UN atomic agency to unveil latest Iran report

I / Vienna November 16, 2009, 9:43 IST

The UN atomic agency unveils its latest report on Iran's disputed nuclear drive today, with world powers warning Tehran is "running out of time" to respond to a UN-brokered offer to end the standoff.

The International Atomic Energy Agency report will take stock of Iran's uranium enrichment activities in spite of international sanctions and detail findings from an October visit to a previously secret atomic site at Qom.

President Barack Obama yesterday won the strongest backing yet from Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on Iran, with the US leader expressing frustration that Tehran had yet to answer an offer to enrich uranium outside of Iran.

"Unfortunately, so far at least, Iran has been unable to say yes" to the proposal, Obama said after talks with Medvedev in Singapore. "We now are running out of time with respect to that approach."

Russia, which has the strongest ties with Tehran of any big power, has traditionally been unwilling to punish Iran with tough measures. But Medvedev said that Tehran risked sanctions if the crisis continued.

He said Moscow was "not completely happy about the pace" of efforts to resolve the crisis.

"In case we fail, the other options remain on the table, in order to move the process in a different direction," he said in a reference to new UN sanctions against Tehran.