Talks in Vienna between European Union negotiators and Iran over its nuclear ambitions broke up today without any agreement, ministers said.
"Unfortunately we were not able to reach an agreement," said French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy.
He added the EU had been demanding "full and complete suspension" of enrichment and related activities. The sides met for just over two hours.
Tehran is speeding up uranium enrichment work geared to fuelling nuclear power plants or, potentially, weapons while going slow in talks on a Russian compromise proposal to defuse the crisis.
Mr Douste-Blazy, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a senior British official standing in for Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, and Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani arrived early this morning for talks inVienna.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) 35-nation board of governors will convene on Monday to weigh a report by the IAEA chief saying essentially that Iran has ignored a February 4th call to re-suspend enrichment work to regain world trust.
The Vienna-based board reported Iran to the UN Security Council but on the condition the top world body on war and peace issues would not flex its muscle at least until after next week's session.