VIENNA (AFP) -- The Iranian nuclear dossier was the object of lively debate here Wednesday, a day after a Western push for an anti-Iran resolution was scuppered by Russia, China, and developing countries.

On the third day of a meeting of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy here, Iran was the last major topic on the agenda.
A day earlier, European countries had failed to drum up support for an anti-Iran resolution with its opponents arguing such a move was superfluous following Monday’s UN Security Council decision to step up sanctions against Tehran.
Speaking on behalf of Britain, France and Germany, British Ambassador Simon Smith complained that Tehran’s answers on a number of outstanding issues had been “less than satisfactory.”
U.S. Ambassador Gregory Schulte also insisted that despite some progress on past issues, the Iranian file was far from being closed.
Meanwhile, Cuban Ambassador Norma Goicchea Estenoz, who chairs the so-called Non-Aligned Movement including countries such as South Africa and Cuba, praised Iran’s “pro-active cooperation” in resolving the outstanding issues.
In a recent report, IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei asserted that most of the issues were indeed “no longer outstanding.”
South Africa’s Ambassador Abdul Samad Minty insisted his country “does not wish to see the denial of the right of any state party to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) to exploit nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.”