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| Iran-EU nuclear talks postponed | Iran-EU nuclear talks postponed |
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| Talks between Iran and the EU over Tehran's nuclear programme have been postponed, Iranian representatives say. | Talks between Iran and the EU over Tehran's nuclear programme have been postponed, Iranian representatives say. |
| The negotiations were originally set tentatively for Wednesday in Vienna, but Iranian envoys now say they have been put back, without explaining why. | The negotiations were originally set tentatively for Wednesday in Vienna, but Iranian envoys now say they have been put back, without explaining why. |
| Top UN powers are set to meet on Thursday in Berlin to discuss the deadlock over Iran's nuclear project. | Top UN powers are set to meet on Thursday in Berlin to discuss the deadlock over Iran's nuclear project. |
| Meanwhile, Russia has said it will consider supporting economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear defiance. | |
| The US is pushing for sanctions after Iran ignored a 31 August deadline, set by the UN Security Council, to stop uranium enrichment. | |
| Iran says its programme has the sole goal of generating civilian power, though the US suspects it is a cover for the development of nuclear weapons. | |
| Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Russia was considering supporting UN economic sanctions. | |
| "We will consider this from all points of view, in totality, based on our goal of not allowing the spread of WMD [weapons of mass destruction] and technology that is linked with this," he was quoted as saying by Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency. | |
| This appeared to be a hardening of Russia's position. It has previously signalled that it might oppose sanctions. | |
| The talks in Vienna had been described as a last chance for Iran to avoid sanctions over its enrichment of uranium in contravention of UN orders. | |
| "We will not have the meeting today in Vienna, but it will be held in a couple of days" in Vienna, the Iranian ambassador to the International Nuclear Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said. | |
| There was speculation it could take place on Friday. | |
| He would say only that "a procedural matter" had caused the delay. | |
| "It is more appropriate for both sides to meet later," he said. |