Senior Iranian, European officials seek to defuse standoff

VIENNA, Austria -- With the threat of new U.N. sanctions looming, senior European officials met Friday with a ranking envoy from Iran in what officials described as an attempt to defuse the crisis over the Islamic republic's refusal to scrap uranium enrichment.

Also Friday, U.N. experts inspected a key Iranian nuclear facility, days after the U.N. atomic watchdog agency reported that its knowledge of the country's activities was shrinking because of restrictions on visits.

Iran's nuclear defiance -- most recently documented in a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency that was sent to the U.N. Security Council -- has set the stage for further council sanctions against Tehran, and a European official warned against undue expectations from Friday's talks.

"It was a stocktaking session," said the European official who -- like diplomats agreeing to discuss the meeting with The Associated Press -- spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were not public.

Still, they suggested that the meeting was positive in demonstrating a joint effort to try to return to negotiations over Iran's enrichment program to try to stave off further sanctions -- and a potential escalation of the crisis.

The Pentagon this week moved two aircraft carriers and seven other ships into the Persian Gulf in a show of force. Iran, meanwhile, has detained at least two prominent Iranian-American citizens.

Friday's session in Brussels, Belgium, was meant to prepare the ground for a May 31 meeting in Madrid between Ali Larijani, Iran's leading nuclear negotiator, and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana -- their second round of talks in just over a month.

It was attended by Larijani deputy Javed Vaidi and senior civil servants of Britain, France and Germany who report directly to their foreign ministers, the officials said. Also present was a senior Solana aide.