The United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Iran is continuing to defy UN Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment. A new IAEA report, released in Vienna today, says Tehran has instead expanded such activities.

A new U.N. nuclear agency report says Iran has expanded uranium enrichment, defying international demands to stop the sensitive nuclear work. The International Atomic Energy Agency also says its ability to monitor Iran's nuclear program has deteriorated because of a lack of access.

A sixty-day UN deadline for Iran to halt uranium enrichment expires today. The International Atomic Energy Agency is to report on whether Iran has met this deadline. But news agencies report the IAEA will likely say Iran has not only ignored the ultimatum but has expanded the program.

A senior Iranian official says Tehran has expanded work on its nuclear facility at Natanz in central Iran. The Mehr news agency quoted Abdulreza Rahmani-Fazli, deputy secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, as saying more centrifuges have been installed at the plant.

The United States said Wednesday it still expects implementation of the six-party agreement to end North Korea's nuclear program despite a financial snag that has stalled the process. The deal has fallen more than a month behind schedule.

U.S.-Iran talks about Iraq's security will begin in Iraq on May 28, Iran's foreign minister said Thursday, and kept up Tehran's call for foreign troops to leave. Manouchehr Mottaki said the negotiations would be exclusively about Iraq and that the first meeting, in the presence of Iraqi officials, would try to set a more detailed agenda.

Officials from six world powers are expected to meet for talks on persuading Iran to halt its sensitive nuclear work. The meeting in Berlin will involve senior diplomats from Germany and the five permanent United Nations Security Council members -- the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China.

Iran has agreed to a modified agenda at a UN nonproliferation conference, saving the meeting from collapse. The compromise opens the door to a discussion on compliance with nuclear rules.

The State Department reports progress in talks with India on a nuclear agreement and says a senior U.S. envoy will go to India later this month to try to complete a deal. Long-running efforts to reach a landmark accord on nuclear cooperation had been stalled. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which limits the spread of nuclear weapons, is suffering a crisis of confidence.

Congress is now considering whether to approve or zero out the $405 million that President Bush is proposing to spend in fiscal year 2008 on the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP)-a program aimed at rendering plutonium inert in nuclear weapons but still useful in nuclear power plants.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he prefers diplomacy -- as opposed to a military operation -- in dealing with Iran's nuclear program. In an interview aired today, Olmert said international efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions could be successful.