A meeting of 130 nations on how to shore up the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was suspended today for 24 hours so diplomats could try and overcome a standoff triggered by Iran's objections to the agenda.
At odds with Western powers over their suspicions it is seeking to build atom bombs under cover of a civilian nuclear energy programme, Iran says a clause inserted in the agenda would unjustly single it out as the prime peril to the NPT.
When the two-week meeting began on Monday, Iran blocked the required consensus on the agenda over a phrase citing the need for NPT members to consider "approaches and measures to realise its purpose, reaffirming the need for full compliance".
The wording was added at the behest of some Western powers which consider Iran and North Korea, which walked out of the NPT and tested a nuclear device last year, the biggest threats to the treaty's integrity, diplomats said.
Iran said the clause glossed over nuclear weapons states' role in weakening the NPT by failing to phase out their arsenals or push for a nuclear arms-free zone in the Middle East by pressing Israel to dismantle its undeclared atomic firepower.
Earlier today, Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh said Tehran would drop its challenge if the passage on compliance was expanded to specifically mention disarmament by major powers with nuclear weapons.