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Iran Threatens Delays in Nuclear Talks
(New York Times) - Rick Gladstone and Artin Afkhami - Iran raised the possibility on Wednesday of delaying or canceling the resumption of nuclear talks with the big powers, scheduled in less than two weeks, because of what it called dithering by the other side in holding preliminary meetings. In response, Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for chief negotiator Catherine Ashton, said Ashton had replied to the Iranians that she saw no need for further preparatory meetings. Western diplomats said they believed that the Iranian requests for such meetings were part of a deliberate effort to bog down the process. In addition, on Wednesday, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, the UN nuclear monitoring agency, accused some of the agency's inspectors of espionage.