"DEBACLE IN MOSCOW"
The diplomat said it was not clear if any senior aides to Heinonen would go
to Iran as had been expected. A diplomat from another Western state also said he
was informed Heinonen had canceled. IAEA officials refused to comment.
A diplomat familiar with IAEA dealings with Iran said the trip had been
clouded by what he said was the hard line taken by Iranian negotiators who met
EU officials in Moscow on Wednesday.
"It was a debacle in Moscow, and the Iranians are acting empowered," the
diplomat said.
No consensus on sanctions emerged when the council's five permanent members
-- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany held
talks in Moscow this week.
Iran's deputy chief nuclear negotiator Javad Vaeedi met officials of Britain,
France and Germany in Moscow after those talks, but there was no breakthrough, a
British diplomat said.
Vaeedi arrived in Vienna late on Thursday, Iran's student news agency ISNA
reported. There was no immediate confirmation.
Last week Iran defied U.N. and IAEA demands by announcing it had enriched
uranium to the level needed in power stations and that it would push for
industrial-scale fuel production.
Russia -- a veto-holder on the Security Council -- has long argued that
sanctions might not persuade Iran to change course, but it has not before
spelled out the level of evidence it would need to consider such measures.
President Bush, meeting Chinese President Hu Jintao in Washington on
Thursday, did not appear to have persuaded him to allow tougher steps in the
Security Council. Hu repeated Beijing's calls for a negotiated solution.
Russia rejected on Friday a U.S. call for it to scrap a planned missile sale
to Iran, a day after rebuffing Washington's suggestion that it halt work on
Iran's first atomic power plant.
"There are no circumstances which would get in the way of us carrying out our
commitments in the field of military cooperation with Iran," Nikolai Spassky,
deputy head of Russia's National Security Council, was quoted by Tass as saying.
"That includes ... our commitment to supply Tor systems to Iran," he said,
referring to tactical surface-to-air missiles.
Bush has vowed to stop Iran getting nuclear weapons and has refused to rule
out military options if diplomacy fails.
Worries about the nuclear standoff helped drive oil to record highs this
week. Prices fell nearly $1 on Friday on profit-taking by fund investors, but
held above $72 a barrel.