VIENNA (AP) - Russia said Wednesday the world should not draw "hasty conclusions" over Iran's most recent rebuff of U.N. attempts to investigate allegations the Islamic Republic hid secret work on atomic arms, but the U.S. and its allies accused Tehran of nuclear defiance.
Under international pressure to show restraint, Israel, which has warned repeatedly that it may strike Iran's nuclear facilities, pointedly urged major world powers to mind their own business, saying it alone would decide what to do to protect the Jewish state's security.
France said Iran's continued stonewalling of the International Atomic Energy Agency "is contrary to the intentions" expressed by Tehran in its recent offer to restart talks over its nuclear activities.
In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney said while world powers have not yet reached a decision on those talks, Iran's refusal to cooperate with the investigation "suggests that they have not changed their behavior when it comes to abiding by their international obligations."
Russia urged renewed efforts to engage Iran on its suspected secret nuclear work. "We must not make hasty conclusions," Gatilov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, told reporters, calling for the IAEA to "continue contacts" with Iran on the issue.
The IAEA's acknowledgment of renewed failure came early Wednesday at the conclusion of the second trip in less then a month aimed at investigating suspicions of covert Iranian nuclear weapons work. The IAEA team had hoped to speak with key Iranian scientists suspected of working on the alleged weapons program, break down opposition to their plans to inspect documents related to nuclear work and secure commitments from Iranian authorities to allow future visits.
But mission head Herman Nackaerts acknowledged his team "could not find a way forward" in negotiations with Iranian officials. A separate IAEA communique clearly - if indirectly - blamed Tehran for the lack of progress.
"We engaged in a constructive spirit, but no agreement was reached," it quoted IAEA chief Yukiya Amano as saying.
As on the previous visit that ended in early February, Iran did not grant requests by the IAEA mission to visit Parchin - a military site thought to be used for explosives testing related to nuclear detonations, the statement said.
The statement also said no agreement was reached on how to begin "clarification of unresolved issues in connection with Iran's nuclear program, particularly those relating to possible military dimensions."
The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security said Wednesday it had new indications of hidden weapons work by Iran.
ISIS said that a cache of telexes to Western high-tech companies from the Physics Research Center in Tehran shows that from about 1990 to 1993, the center sought to purchase equipment and materials that could have been used in weapons research and development.
Tehran has acknowledged the Physics Research Center in Tehran conducted nuclear-related research, but said the center's work was limited to efforts to prepare Iran's military and civilian population for dealing with a nuclear strike.
Iran insists it is using nuclear energy only to generate power, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proclaimed Wednesday that possession of atomic arms is a sin as well as "useless, harmful and dangerous." Iran asserts that the allegations of secret work on developing nuclear arms are based on fabricated U.S. and Israeli intelligence.
But in a 13-page summary late last year, the IAEA listed clandestine activities he said can either be used in civilian or military nuclear programs, or "are specific to nuclear weapons."
Among these were indications Iran has conducted high-explosives testing to set off a nuclear charge at Parchin.
Other suspicions include computer modeling of a core of a nuclear warhead and alleged preparatory work for a nuclear weapons test and development of a nuclear payload for Iran's Shahab 3 intermediate range missile - a weapon that could reach Israel.