Iran, Europeans test diplomacy on N-issue

IAEA REPORT | Islamic state plans to expand its capacity for uranium-enrichment, potentially increasing the nuke risk

European and Iranian diplomats met on Friday to discuss whether they can engage in serious talks, including over Iran's disputed nuclear programme, before Donald Trump returns to the White House in January. The meetings in Geneva, the first since the US election, come after Tehran was angered by a European-backed resolution last week that criticised Iran for poor cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran expected the talks to be "tough and serious". He added that next week Tehran would brief Russia and China, the non-Western signatories of a 2015 nuclear pact with Iran that Trump abandoned during his last term as President. Trump, who after reneging on the nuclear deal pursued a "maximum pressure" policy that sought to wreck Iran's economy, is staffing his new administration with noted hawks on Iran.