 The UN atomic watchdog’s No 2 official goes to Iran on Wednesday to test Tehran’s latest promise to answer questions about its nuclear agenda under the threat of stiffer sanctions. Iran’s gesture of an “action plan” to address suspicions its nuclear programme has military goals, combined with a slowdown in uranium enrichment, have raised the hope of defusing a standoff with big powers, according to the IAEA’s director. But the United States and EU allies wonder whether Iran’s offer of transparency is more than a time-buying gambit designed to avert further sanctions against what Western powers suspect is a bomb making programme in disguise. |