Iran’s Chief Nuclear Negotiator Saeed Jalili speaks to the media after the negotiation between the U.S. and five other world powers met with Iranian diplomats in Baghdad, Iraq. Tough negotiations between Iran and world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program ended Thursday with a plan to meet next month for another round of talks but agreement on little else.By GEORGE JAHN
Associated Press
VIENNA – Inspectors have located radioactive traces at an Iranian underground bunker, the U.N. atomic agency said Friday in a finding that could mean Iran has moved closer to reaching the uranium threshold needed to arm nuclear missiles.
In a report obtained by The Associated Press, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it was asking Tehran for a full explanation. But the report was careful to avoid any suggestion that Iran was intentionally increasing the level of its uranium enrichment, noting that Tehran said a technical glitch was responsible.
Analysts as well as diplomats who had told the AP of the existence of the traces before publication of the confidential report also said the higher-enriched material could have been a mishap involving centrifuges over-performing as technicians adjusted their output rather than a dangerous step toward building a bomb.