Nuclear watchdog suspends technical aid to Iran

The UN nuclear watchdog agency today suspended nearly half of the technical aid it now provides Tehran in line with UN sanctions slapped on the Islamic republic for its refusal to mothball its uranium enrichment programme.

As IAEA chief Mohamed El Baradei issued the report to his agency’s 35-nation board, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator abruptly cancelled planned meetings both with El Baradei in Vienna and with senior European leaders in Munich, on the sidelines of a security conference in the German city.

Organisers of the Munich conference said negotiator Ali Larijani cancelled because of an unspecified illness, whereas IAEA officials said they were told he was not coming for “technical reasons".