U.S. Isolated on Iran Nuke Program-Diplomats

[Spazito]

VIENNA (Reuters) - The United States, which accuses Iran of secretly developing atomic weapons, has become isolated in its hardline attitude toward Tehran as more countries want to engage rather than punish it, diplomats said on Friday.


On Thursday, Iran's envoy to the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Akbar Salehi, gave the IAEA a declaration he said "fully discloses" all aspects of Tehran's nuclear program, which he insisted is entirely peaceful.


The IAEA governing board set an October 31 deadline for Iran to provide it with such a declaration. Failure to do so would have left the agency's board with no choice but to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible economic sanctions.

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Washington had hoped to push the IAEA board to declare Iran in "non-compliance" with its NPT obligations at a November 20 board session. But diplomats said it would be very difficult after Iran made several major gestures this week to show it may want to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

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