A senior Israeli official says his country has not ruled out military action against Iran's nuclear facilities though it prefers diplomacy for now. The official also says Israel has informed Syria that it is interested in resuming peace talks.

The U.S. says its proposal to base ballistic missile defense systems in eastern Europe is designed to deter what U.S. officials label as "rogue states," particularly Iran. As VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports, Western analysts believe Iran's missile program is still far from posing any threat to Europe or the United States.

It is "too late" to stop Iran's nuclear program and the U.S. with its allies should not to push for new U.N. sanctions on Iran, hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday, comparing Iran to a lion sitting quietly in a corner.

The Foreign Ministry of Germany said that it held talks with Iran's top negotiator but gave no details. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani met in Berlin, a ministry spokeswoman said on customary condition of anonymity.

An Iranian official says his country will not stop developing its nuclear program even if the United Nations imposes a third set of sanctions.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana concluded talks in Madrid aimed at ending the standoff with Tehran over its nuclear program.

European Union foreign-policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, are due to discuss the standoff over Iran's nuclear program today in Madrid.

Iran today again insisted it will not agree to the key demand of Western powers about its controversial nuclear program. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini says Tehran will not suspend uranium enrichment, a process the West fears could be used to make nuclear weapons.

The chief U.S. negotiator on North Korea's nuclear programs has been meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing to try to resolve problems in transferring money from a Macau bank to North Korea. Pyongyang has refused to resume six-nation talks on its nuclear weapons program until it has possession of the $25 million in the previously frozen accounts, and the U.S. official stays it still might take some time.

During the second day of talks between two Koreas, S.Korea urged its northern neighbor to shut down its nuclear reactor and gradually open their heavily armed border to regular train traffic.

Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said in Tehran today his country will not suspend uranium enrichment. The refusal comes one day ahead of talks between EU foreign-policy chief Javier Solana and Larijani in the Spanish capital, Madrid.

To discuss the stalled negotiations with China the U.S. envoy to talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear programs will visit Beijing this week, Foreign Ministry of China announced Tuesday.