Vienna - The price fo

Vienna  - The European Union and the United States said Wednesday they were ready to start comprehensive talks with Iran on its nuclear programme, but also indicated their support for new measures should Tehran continue to defy the UN Security Council.

Many International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) members are concerned about Iran's refusal to answer lingering questions over past research that could have been related to the development of nuclear weapons.

Vienna  - Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution on Wednesday praising Libya for cooperating with the agency, after the North African state gave up its nuclear weapons programme in 2003.

Diplomats said the resolution drafted by the United States and Britain was also intended to contrast Libya's position with that of Iran, which has been under the IAEA's investigation since 2002.

Vienna - The European Union and the United States said Wednesday they were ready to start comprehensive talks with Iran on its nuclear programme, but also indicated their support for new measures should Tehran continue to defy the UN Security Council.

Many IAEA members are concerned about Iran's refusal to answer lingering questions over past research that could have been related to the development of nuclear weapons.

"We have to react," French Ambassador Francois-Xavier Deniau told the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. France holds the rotating EU presidency.

Vienna  - The European Union said Wednesday it stood ready to start comprehensive talks with Iran on its nuclear programme, but also restated its general support for new measures should Tehran continue to defy the United Nations Security Council.

"We have to react," French Ambassador Francois-Xavier Deniau told the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. France holds the rotating EU presidency.

Like other IAEA members, EU countries are concerned about lingering questions over past Iranian research that could have been related to the development of nuclear weapons.

Vienna- North Korea has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it plans to operate its plutonium- reprocessing facility next week, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Melissa Fleming also said that North Korea had informed the Vienna-based agency that "from here on the IAEA inspectors will have no further access to the reprocessing plant."

IAEA inspectors will remain at Yongbyon nuclear complex to monitor the freeze of the reactor and other nuclear facilities located there.