UN official: No deal on resuming Iran nuke probe

Senior officials of the U.N. atomic agency have returned from Tehran without a hoped-for deal that would have led to the resumption of a probe into allegations that Iran worked secretly on nuclear arms.

Herman Naeckerts, who headed the International Atomic Energy Agency team, says `'remaining differences" between the two sides mean that `'we ... could not finalize" the agreement on how such an investigation should be conducted. He declined to say whether there was progress.

Iran denies it ever worked on nuclear arms and says all of its atomic activities are peaceful. The talks began more than a year ago but have foundered on modalities.

The IAEA wants the probe to be open ended, something Tehran strenuously opposes.

The Associated Press