'Miracles' unlikely in new Iran nuclear talks: Solana

VIENNA (AFP) - The UN atomic watchdog tackled the contentious Iranian nuclear dossier on Wednesday, as its inspectors prepared for a visit to Syria to probe allegations of a covert nuclear reactor.

In a three-hour debate on Iran's controversial atomic drive, western states urged Tehran to furnish all outstanding information on its disputed nuclear programme to the UN watchdog to end a long-running impasse.

"We call on Iran to supply all the necessary information, as well as the access to people, documents and sites requested by the IAEA," or International Atomic Energy Agency, French ambassador Francois-Xavier Deniau told the agency's 35-member board at its meeting here.

He was speaking on behalf of the so-called EU-3 comprising Britain, France and Germany.

"That is the only way for the agency to determine the true nature of the Iranian nuclear programme," he said in a speech, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

The US ambassador to the IAEA, Gregory Schulte, took an even tougher line.

"If the Iranian government has indeed stopped its pursuit of nuclear weapons and has no intention of restarting such an effort, it is best served by admitting past work and allowing the IAEA to verify that it has stopped, as other countries have done," Schulte said.

Recent threats from Iran to limit cooperation with the nuclear watchdog "undermine Iran's argument that it has nothing to hide," Schulte said.

The Slovenian representative to the IAEA, Bojan Bertoncelj, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, expressed "serious concern" that after a five-year probe, the IAEA was no closer to determining the full nature of Iran's nuclear programme.

A diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Syria had informed other Arab League countries on the sidelines of the IAEA meeting that Damascus had agreed to let the experts inspect the bombed building itself in Al-Kabir - a remote site in the Syrian desert.

Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told members of the European Parliament in Brussels, "I will be in Tehran", but he did not name a date for the visit. "I have decided together with the six countries that are involved in the negotiations to go back there and meet with the leaders."

"I don't expect miracles," he said. "But I think it's important for us to continue extending also a hand, therefore to make clear that we have a double track approach," he said, referring to negotiations and UN sanctions.

Solana said that he would take the "upgraded position" offered by major world powers to Iran two years ago when he travels to the capital - a trip that an EU official said could take place in mid-June.

Solana has been battling to establish high-level talks aimed at getting Iran to accept the political and trade incentives, but the Islamic republic refuses to suspend enrichment as a precondition for negotiating.

Iran insists it has the right to enrich uranium to make nuclear fuel to help meet its electricity needs and has so far defied Security Council resolutions which demand it halt the process.

At highly refined levels, such work can also make the fissile core of an atomic bomb but Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful and has vehemently denied that it is seeking to make weapons.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said late Tuesday that Iran's controversial programme must be stopped "by all possible means".

"The Iranian threat must be stopped by all possible means. International economic and political sanctions on Iran, as crucial as they may be, are only an initial step, and must be dramatically increased," Olmert said in a keynote speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.