Special report: Iran Nuclear Crisis

    UNITED NATIONS, Mar. 5 (Xinhua) -- The six major powers, including the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, are scheduled to hold consultation of the first of its series on Iran's nuclear issue on Monday afternoon at British mission.

    According to diplomats who said on condition of anonymity, the talk will be held at ambassador level, and is expected to discuss the possible new Security Council draft resolution that would toughen sanctions against Iran.

    The United States has previously circulated to the other five powers elements of the draft text which may constitute basis for the upcoming talks, diplomats said.

    Top diplomats from the six powers agreed on Thursday during a telephone conference that the new resolution would be drafted under the terms of article 41 of the UN charter, which authorizes the Security Council to take all necessary measures, except military ones, to enforce its resolutions against Iran.

IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei briefs the media during an IAEA board of governors meeting at Vienna's U.N. headquarters March 5, 2007.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    ElBaradei calls on Iran to address concerns on nuclear program

    VIENNA, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The UN atomic watchdog's chief Mohamed ElBaradei on Monday called on Iran to address international concerns on its nuclear program to restore confidence of the UN agency.

    "Unlike other verification cases, the IAEA's confidence about the nature of Iran's program has been shaken because of two decades of undeclared activities (until 2003)," ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IEAE), said in opening remarks to a gathering of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors.

    "This confidence will only be restored when Iran takes the long overdue decision to explain and answer all the agency's questions and concerns about its past nuclear activities in an open and transparent manner," said ElBaradei.

    Iran, which maintains the peaceful nature of its nuclear program, ignored a Feb. 21 UN Security Council deadline for it to suspend proliferation sensitive activities like uranium enrichment and reprocessing.

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