European officials try to defuse 'Iran nuclear crisis'

With the threat of new UN sanctions looming over Iran, senior European officials met an envoy from Tehran, in what officials described as an attempt to defuse the crisis over the Islamic republic’s refusal to scrap uranium enrichment.

Iran’s nuclear defiance – most recently documented in a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency that was sent to the Security Council on Wednesday – has set the stage for further council sanctions against Tehran, and a European official warned against undue expectations from yesterday’s talks.