UN Renews Iran Nuclear Talks in April

The U.N. Security Council agreed on Monday to meet later this month to discuss incentives previously offered to Iran on its nuclear program, U.S. officials said.

The officials did not confirm the date or location of where the talks will be held, only saying that council senior diplomats from Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany will attend.

I can only narrow it down to mid-April. We're going to wait, we're going to let our hosts announce the meeting, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The U.N Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran after it violated the council's orders to suspend its uranium enrichment program.

Iran claims the uranium is to produce fuel for electrical power plants, but the U.S., the European Union and other countries say its real aim is to make atomic weapons as enriched uranium can be used as fuel for nuclear energy or nuclear weapons.

The Security Council approved the third round of sanctions against Iran in March, sending a strong signal to Tehran that its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment is unacceptable and becoming increasingly costly.

The uranium could be used to make fuel for power plants or atomic weapons. Iran has failed to follow sanction orders and has spurned previous offers of economic benefits to suspend its uranium enrichment.

Iran celebrates its National Day of Nuclear Technology on Tuesday, an occasion Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used last year to proclaim the country's industrial uranium enrichment capacity.