MADRID (AFP) - Talks between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on Thursday failed to break the deadlock over Tehran's nuclear programme.

"I think we can say that there was no fundamental breakthrough, but we made advances on some important issues," Solana told reporters after some four hours of talks in Madrid.

The two agreed to intensify their dialogue with another face-to-face meeting in two weeks' time, but failed to make significant ground on the major sticking points: Iran's suspension of enrichment activities and UN sanctions.

Prior to the meeting, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Iran to alter its stance of ignoring sanctions-backed UN demands to halt uranium enrichment work, but Tehran remained defiant.

It was Solana and Larijani's second meeting in just over a month after a fruitless head-to-head in Turkey in late April.

Speaking in Vienna, the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rice urged Tehran "to change tactics" and agree to suspend its enrichment work, which Washington charges is part of a covert nuclear weapons programme.

"The international community is united on what Iran should do and that is to suspend; to demonstrate that it is in fact not seeking a nuclear weapon under cover of civil nuclear power," Rice said.

She also repeated Washington's offer to join multiparty talks on trade, security and technological benefits for Iran if the Islamic state acceded to UN demands.

The Madrid meeting was the first between Solana and Larijani since the expiration of a 60-day time limit set by the United Nations for Iran to stop enriching uranium, a process which can be used both to make nuclear fuel and, in highly purified form, the fissile core of an atomic bomb.

Iran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons, saying it wants only to produce energy for a growing population whose fossil fuels will eventually run out.

Observers said before Thursday's meeting that it had little chance of achieving any breakthrough, with Tehran showing no sign of buckling under increasing international pressure.

"There is no possible path for the suspension of the enrichment of uranium," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.

"Iran will use all legal and judicial means to realise its legitimate rights and will not halt its nuclear activities," Hosseini added.

And Larijani, speaking before flying to Madrid on Wednesday, had said that suspending enrichment was "not a logical way" to resolve the nuclear issue.

Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight most industrialised nations have said that they are prepared to back "appropriate measures" if Iran fails to compromise.

The US is leading calls by Western powers for existing sanctions on Iran to be tightened. The UN Security Council first imposed sanctions on Iran in December for rejecting its demands, and then modestly increased them in March.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- China, Britain, France, Russia and the United States -- are growing increasingly frustrated and are determined to see the punitive measures strengthened, an analyst said before the meeting.

"Iran would be deceiving itself to believe that they won't," said Mark Fitzpatrick, senior fellow for non-proliferation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London think-tank.

"They will give Iran a chance to come to the bargaining table with something to offer, but if Iran does not budge, additional sanctions will surely be imposed."

By SELCAN HACAOGLU
Associated Press Writer

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey's top general said Thursday his army — which has been massing troops on the border with Iraq — was prepared to attack separatist Kurdish guerrillas in a cross-border offensive.

Gen. Yasar Buyukanit said the military was ready and awaiting government orders for an incursion, putting pressure on the government to support an offensive that risks straining ties with the United States and Europe and raising tensions with Iraqi Kurds.

"As soldiers, we are ready," Buyukanit said at an international security conference in Istanbul.

Although the United States has branded the guerrillas a terrorist organization, Washington fears that Turkish military action could destabilize northern Iraq — the most stable part of the war-torn country. Washington is also concerned that supporting Turkey in an incursion could alienate the pro-American Iraqi Kurds.

Many Turks believe a major incursion would help finish off the rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has been fighting for autonomy in Kurdish-dominated southeastern Turkey since 1984. Turkey's human rights record has been stained by allegations of excessive use of force in the fight against the guerrillas in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.

Turkey last carried out a major incursion into Iraq a decade ago, before the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. But separatist Kurdish guerrillas, taking advantage of a power vacuum in northern Iraq, have escalated attacks on Turkish targets. The military says up to 3,800 rebels are now based in Iraq, and up to 2,300 operate inside Turkey.

Turkish intelligence reports say that Iraqi Kurdish groups, which previously supported the Turkish military in fighting the guerrillas, were preparing defenses against a possible Turkish incursion into northern Iraq. Turkey fears that Iraqi Kurds want to establish an independent Kurdish state, which could revive the aspirations of separatist Kurds in Turkey.

Although the Turkish government promised to back the military, it has not so far asked Parliament for permission to deploy troops, anticipating problems with Washington, Iraq and the European Union — all of which have urged Turkey to show restraint and find diplomatic ways to deal with the Kurdish rebellion.

Turkey frequently complains that the United States and Iraqi Kurds have done little to stop the separatist rebels.

On Thursday, Buyukanit denounced what he said was a lack of assistance from allies.

"Turkey does not receive the necessary support in its fight against terrorism," the general said. "There are countries which directly or indirectly support PKK terrorism." He did not identify those countries.

Public support for an offensive is high, especially following the recent killings of soldiers and a suicide bombing that killed six people. On Thursday, suspected rebels attacked a group of forestry workers in the predominantly Kurdish province of Bingol, killing four of them and wounding four others, officials said.

On Thursday, military trucks hauled more tanks and guns to the border area, local reporters said. The deployment has made it more difficult for the rebels to retreat to bases in northern Iraq, the military said.

Turkish troops, reinforced by planes and helicopter gunships, have killed 14 PKK guerrillas in operations near the border since Monday.

But the U.S. State Department said Wednesday it had seen no evidence of a significant movement of Turkish military forces in the border.

Past Turkish military incursions have yielded mixed results, with guerrillas sheltering in hide-outs and emerging again after most Turkish units withdrew.

Turkey set up a buffer zone along the 200-mile border in 1997, but gradually withdrew the bulk of its troops under international pressure, leaving about 1,000 inside Iraq. Those troops act as monitors, but have not pursued the rebels.

"To set up a buffer zone, Turkey needs to secure the consent of both Washington and the Iraqi Kurds," said Nihat Ali Ozcan of the Economic Policy Research Institute in Ankara.

"However, the military buildup clearly puts more pressure on U.S. and Iraqi forces to do something quickly."

Iranian authorities hanged five people in the eastern and south-eastern provinces of Khorrasan Jonoubi and Sistan-va-Baluchistan respectively, state media reported on Tuesday.

Four other men, charged with drug trafficking, were hanged in the town of Birjend, Khorrasan Jonoubi Province, the report said.

Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, May 31 - More than a dozen rebels and Revolutionary Guards were killed in clashes in north-west Iran since Monday.

On Wednesday, 10 rebels were killed by security forces near the Kurdish town of Salmas, close to the Turkish border, the official news agency IRNA reported.

In a separate report, IRNA said that seven Revolutionary Guards and five rebels had been killed after rebels ambushed a border security convoy on Monday.

Iran Focus

London, May 24 - Two people were stoned to death in Iran and sentences of flogging, amputation and eye-gouging continued to be passed, the human rights group Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

In Iran "the human rights situation deteriorated, with civil society facing increasing restrictions on fundamental freedoms of expression and association", Amnesty International said in its 2007 annual report.

"Two people were reportedly stoned to death. Sentences of flogging, amputation and eye-gouging continued to be passed", the report said.

"At least 177 people were executed, at least four of whom were under 18 at the time of the alleged offence, including one who was under 18 at the time of execution. ... The true numbers of those executed or subjected to corporal punishment were probably considerably higher than those reported.

"Scores of political prisoners, including prisoners of conscience, continued to serve prison sentences imposed following unfair trials in previous years. Thousands more arrests were made in 2006, mostly during or following demonstrations. Human rights defenders, including journalists, students and lawyers, were among those detained arbitrarily without access to family or legal representation.

"Torture, especially during periods of pre-trial detention, remained commonplace", the report added.

By SUZAN FRASER
Associated Press Writer

ANKARA, Turkey - The prime minister said he would back Turkey's generals if they decide to retaliate for a suicide bombing in the capital by striking Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the United States to crack down on Kurdish separatists operating from Iraq, all but accusing the rebels of carrying out Tuesday's bombing.

"If the terrorist organization is based in northern Iraq, then the United States must fulfill its responsibility," Erdogan said, referring to the Kurdistan Workers Party, the rebel group known as the PKK.

While the United States also views the PKK as a terrorist organization, it opposes a crackdown on Kurdish militants in Iraq, fearing that would complicate efforts to restore stability in Iraq.

The PKK denied responsibility for the blast, which killed six people and wounded dozens at a busy shopping mall.

"We openly declare that we have no involvement and do not approve of this kind of act," PKK commanders said in a statement.

The rebels are fighting for autonomy in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, which borders northern Iraq. Turkey staged several incursions into Iraq in the early 1990s with as many as 50,000 troops. Each time, the rebels made a comeback after most of the Turkish soldiers withdrew.

The PKK accused the Turkish military of trying to win support from the United States and Iraqi Kurds for "a cross-border operation that the military has wanted to carry out for a long time."

The PKK has denied involvement in similar attacks in the past. In some cases, militants suspected of ties to the rebel group later claimed responsibility.

Private NTV television, quoting police officials, said the bomb was made of plastic explosives. The military says the PKK is smuggling hundreds of pounds of plastic explosives into the country from Iraq.

Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, chief of the military, stressed the need for a cross-border operation in April but it was not clear whether the military has sought government approval.

Erdogan said his government would support them if they do. "When necessary, this step would be taken, there would be no delay," the prime minister told private ATV television late Wednesday.

"It is out of the question for us to fall into a disagreement with our security forces, soldiers, on this issue," he said in response to question about where he stands on the subject.

Such action could burden the U.S. military with trying to resolve a conflict between two of its crucial partners, the Turks and the Iraqi Kurds. Washington has urged Turkish restraint.

Earlier Wednesday, Ankara Gov. Kemal Onal said the bomber had been identified as Guven Akkus, a 28-year-old from the Kurdish southeast who had spent time in prison for hanging illegal posters and resisting police. He did not say what kind of posters they were.

Officials said PKK rebels detonated a remote-controlled roadside bomb that killed six soldiers in a military vehicle in southeast Turkey, where large-scale military operations are ongoing against separatists. Ten soldiers were injured, the governor's office said. Earlier reports had said the military vehicle hit a land mine.

The Turkish military says up to 3,800 rebels are based across the border in Iraq and that up to 2,300 operate inside Turkey. The conflict has killed tens of thousands since the rebels took up arms in 1984.

Ankara, 24 May (AKI) - Five Turkish soldiers were killed Thursday in a landmine explosion in southeast Turkey, security sources said, blaming the blast on Kurdish separatists. The attack came a day after Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erodogan indicated he may authorise cross-border raids into Iraq against bases allegedly used by the Kurdish separatists. Another 11 soldiers were wounded, four of them seriously, in the blast as their vehicle drove over the landmine in Sirnak province, near the Iraqi border, local news reports said.

The blast follows Tuesday's attack at a shopping mall in Turkey's capital Ankara, in which six people were killed and over 100 hundred were injured in what authorities say was a suicide bombing with plastic explosives similar to those used by the the separatis PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party).

The PKK had denied responsibility for that attack.

In the wake of Tusday's blast, Turkey's top military officer General Yasar Buyukanit, has called for a military operation against the PKK in Iraq's northern autonomous region of Kursdistan. Erdogan, who in the past has shown caution on the issue, said on Wednesday evening in a television interview that he agreed with the army.

The PKK has been fighting for an ethnic homeland since 1984 and Ankara blames it for more than 30,000 deaths since then.

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS - Experts from the United States and five other powers leading efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear program plan to meet within the week following a U.N. report that Tehran has expanded its uranium enrichment program.

China's deputy U.N. ambassador, Liu Zhenmin, said the talks will focus on how to bring Iran back to negotiations and what the Security Council could do if Tehran doesn't budge. Paris was a possible location for the meeting.

The council imposed sanctions on Iran in December for refusing to suspend enrichment, and modestly increased them in March after Tehran stepped up the program, which can produce nuclear weapons. Iran responded by giving the U.N. nuclear watchdog less access to its nuclear facilities.

The restricted report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, obtained by The Associated Press, not only said Iran's enrichment program was expanding, it also warned for the first time that the agency's knowledge of Tehran's nuclear activities was shrinking.

Those findings could lead to fresh sanctions, but Security Council members said the six nations — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — would first weigh their options.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, is hoping to meet with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, at the end of the month, possibly in Madrid.

"I think efforts are being made to encourage the Iranians to talk," Liu said.

The key countries have been consulting through different channels, he said, and "I think the six will have another meeting at experts level by the end of the month."

Diplomats said any action could be delayed until after the June 6-8 summit of the Group of Eight major industrialized nations, which includes all six countries except China, as well as Japan, Italy and Canada.

Formal negotiations collapsed last year after Iran rejected incentives offered by the six world powers because the package required it to freeze uranium enrichment.

In Washington, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said the report showed "Iran is thumbing its nose at the international community."

Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Iran's chief IAEA representative, suggested Washington, France and Britain were responsible for the deteriorating situation because they pushed the hardest for Security Council involvement.

Uranium gas, spun in linked centrifuges, can result in either low-enriched fuel suitable to generate power, or the weapons-grade material that forms the fissile core of nuclear warheads.

Iran insists its nuclear pursuits are peaceful, aimed at producing energy, but Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington's U.N. envoy, said that claim isn't credible given Iran's lack of cooperation on uranium enrichment and the heavy water reactor it is building.

The U.N. report noted Iran's refusal to allow U.N. inspectors to visit the heavy water reactor or related facilities. Once completed, sometime in the next decade, that complex will produce plutonium, which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make nuclear weapons.

"The time has come to take a look at additional pressure, to ratchet up the pressure to bring about a change in Iranian calculation," Khalilzad said.

In a show of American military strength, ships carrying 17,000 sailors and Marines moved into the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, just days before U.S.-Iran talks on Iraq.

The war games — which culminate in an amphibious landing exercise in Kuwait, just a few miles from Iran — appeared to be a clear warning to Iran ahead of the talks and possible U.N sanctions.

The U.N. report said Iran has 1,312 centrifuges churning out enriched uranium at its Natanz enrichment facility in central Iran. Another 328 had been assembled and an additional 328 were being built as of May 13, it said. A year ago, Iran had just 40 centrifuges at the site.

Iran has said it wants to have 54,000 centrifuges running at Natanz, the only site now open to full IAEA monitoring. That would be enough to produce dozens of nuclear weapons a year.

South Africa's U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said the challenge for the council is to sit down and discuss "how we negotiate this one out. Otherwise, we'll just be escalating, and escalating endlessly."

During negotiations on the last sanctions resolution in March, South Africa called for a 90-day "time-out" on sanctions to defuse tensions.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei proposed the strategy in January, but said Iran should suspend its enrichment activities during the moratorium, during which the two sides would try to work out a deal not only covering nuclear issues but security, economic and political concerns as well.

Kumalo said when he made the proposal in March for a 90-day time-out "we were said to be sort of crazy, but I think now people should rethink that."

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States warned Iran Wednesday to end its "defiance" of UN demands to halt sensitive nuclear work and warned of potential new sanctions after a critical UN atomic watchdog report.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assessment "is a laundry list of Iran's continued defiance of the international community and shows that Iran's leaders are only furthering the isolation of the Iranian people," said White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

The IAEA said in a newly released report that Iran still defies a UN call in March to stop uranium enrichment work that can provide fuel for civilian nuclear reactors but also make atomic bomb material.

The report may set the stage for additional sanctions against the Islamic Republic, which denies charges from Washington that it is using its civilian nuclear program as cover for developing atomic weapons.

The UN Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany are dispatching European Union foreign envoy Javier Solana for new talks as early as next week with Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, a US official said.

US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said Solana would renew a year-old offer from the international community for Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment in return for cooperation on civil nuclear energy.

"Should it turn down the offer again, I would think what you'd see is a strong drive by the US and all the other members of the current five ... for a third (UN) sanctions resolution," he told the Heritage Foundation.

Countries might also go beyond the Security Council to "enact even tougher measures" against Iran, Burns added without elaborating.

"Iran is once again thumbing its nose at the international community. Iran is out of compliance," the top US official said.

The UN watchdog's report came out amid a dispute pitting the United States against IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei, who advocates letting Iran keep some enrichment work.

"We would disagree with anyone who would say that we should throw in the towel," Burns said, adding there was "no possibility" of the Security Council members and Germany abandoning their calls for Iran to stop its nuclear drive.

At an underground facility in Natanz, Iran is feeding 1,312 centrifuge machines with the uranium gas need to make enriched uranium, said the confidential report by ElBaradei, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

Iran could reach its goal of industrial scale production with 3,000 centrifuges running by the end of June, a senior official close to the IAEA said.

In its report, the IAEA also said its ability to monitor Iran's nuclear program had "deteriorated" due to lack of access.

LONDON (AFP) - Britain said Wednesday it would consult its allies on what to do next over Iran's continued failure to suspend its uranium enrichment programme.
A critical report by the United Nations' atomic watchdog, headed by Mohamed ElBaradei, said Iran was persisting in defying UN demands to stop its sensitive nuclear fuel work and was expanding its programme.

"Doctor ElBaradei has confirmed that Iran has yet again failed to suspend its enrichment related and reprocessing activities, a mandatory requirement under UN Security Council Resolution 1747," a Foreign Office spokesman said.

"We will study his report further and consult with allies on next steps. We believe that full suspension of Iran's enrichment activities is the only acceptable confidence building measure to allow formal talks to begin."

The International Atomic Energy Agency report could open the door to new sanctions against Tehran.

"Iran has not suspended its enrichment related activities," the IAEA said of Iran's compliance with a UN call in March to stop enrichment work, which makes fuel for civilian reactors but also atom bomb material.

Iran has detained an Iranian American consultant working for George Soros' Open Society Institute, the group said.

The detention of Kian Tajbakhsh comes amid recent accusations by Iranian authorities that the U.S. is using critics and dissidents to try to overthrow the hard-line government.

The group is a private foundation that encourages democracy-building in countries around the world.

This month, Iranian authorities arrested Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and charged her with setting up a network to overthrow the Islamic regime.

NCRI - Tensions are rising in various Iranian Universities and sporadic clashes between students and Iranian security forces have been reported during the past few days.

A report indicates numerous arrests at Amir-Kabir University in Tehran.

Arrested students are Meghdad Khalilpour, Pouyan Mahmoudian, Majid sheikhpour, and one other student whose name is not known at this time. The five are all chief editors of five main student publications at the university.

The defending lawyer for the students told ILNA state-run news agency that, “My clients are still incarcerated and we have no knowledge of their charges.”

A student-run newsletter at the university reports that those arrested are kept at the notorious Evin prison, section 209.

There are also reports of disciplinary measures being taken against 93 students along with the closure of 6 student-run dailies and 3 organizations run by students.

ISTANBUL - The Turkish prime minister saw eye to eye with the army over a possible military operation against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, following a bomb attack in Ankara which killed six, according to state media.

Ankara says thousands of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) separatist guerrillas use northern Iraq as a base, and last month armed forces chief Yasar Buyukanit called for a military operation into Iraq to quash them.

Asked whether such an operation was being considered, the state-run Anatolian news agency quoted Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as saying: "We will do whatever is necessary for our country's peace and happiness.

"On this issue there can be no question of any difference of opinion with our armed forces, with our soldiers... On this issue, when it is necessary this step will be taken."

On Tuesday local time a suicide bomber killed six and injured dozens in a shopping mall in Ankara, the worst attack in the capital in at least a decade.

Ankara Governor Kemal Onal said the attack bore the hallmarks of Kurdish separatism but the PKK, whose separatist campaign goes back to 1984, denied it was responsible.

Iran Focus

Iran’s State Security Forces are cracking down on youths across the country.

Residents in Tehran say that bogus charges are being used as justification for the arrest of political activists and those perceived to be potential threats to the security of the clerical establishment.

One Tehran resident reached by telephone told Iran Focus that thousands of youths had been arrested on “phoney charges” such as non-conformance to the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code or even drug trafficking. “Maybe less than one percent of those arrested have actually done something illegal. The rest are being picked up at random for socialising in public or looking at the security forces in a certain manner”, the resident said on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

The following are photos of the crackdown published in state media:

By Hidir Goktas

ANKARA (Reuters) - The separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) denied on Wednesday carrying out a bomb attack which killed six people in Ankara, after Turkish officials said the attack bore the hallmarks of the militant group.

"We have no connection with the attack," the PKK said in a statement posted on the Firat news agency Web site, which has close links to the guerillas and has published its statements.

The outlawed PKK has been fighting for an ethnic homeland in Turkey since 1984 and Ankara blames it for more than 30,000 deaths. It has carried out suicide bombings in the past.

Ankara's governor said earlier on Wednesday a suicide bomber had carried out the attack in Turkey's capital on Tuesday, and that the type of explosives used pointed to Kurdish separatists.

"It is understood the incident was caused by the explosion of a plastic (explosives) bomb on this person's body and the incident's style matches the methods of the separatist organization," Kemal Onal told reporters.

Tuesday's explosion, the worst in the capital in at least a decade, comes amid heightened political tension.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted government has called national polls ahead of schedule to resolve a dispute with the secularist elite over a recent presidential election.

The secular establishment, including the military, judges and opposition parties, derailed the government's plan to elect their candidate for president, fearing he might weaken the official separation of religion and state.

MILITARY COMMANDERS

The PKK, considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, ended a unilateral ceasefire on May 18 and security experts had expected attacks to escalate.

Turkey has repeatedly urged Iraq and the United States to crack down on an estimated 4,000 PKK rebels who use northern Iraq as a springboard to hit targets inside Turkey.

Last month chief of General Staff, General Yasar Buyukanit called for a military operation into northern Iraq to quash them and Erdogan said late on Wednesday he agreed with the army.

"On this issue there can be no question of any difference of opinion with our armed forces, with our soldiers ... On this issue, when it is necessary this step will be taken," he was quoted as saying by state-run news agency Anatolian.

Leading newspapers Hurriyet and Radikal said the blast took place shortly before military commanders, including Buyukanit, were due to pass the area to go to a defense industry reception.

Separately, Adana Governor Ilhan Atis told state-run Anatolian news agency that a would-be suicide bomber had been detained in the southern city while trying to escape in a car. The woman had 11.3 kg (25 lb) of explosive, two hand bombs and a dozen detonators, he added.

NTV news channel said seven people were arrested in Istanbul on suspicion that they were preparing a similar attack in Turkey's biggest city.

Ankara governor Onal said 91 people were wounded in Tuesday's attack.

Kurdish separatists, leftist militants and hardline Islamists have all launched bomb attacks in Turkey in the past.

Turkish media reported earlier that eight people had been detained in connection with the blast. The governor gave no details and police declined to comment.

Turkey's lira currency fell on Wednesday, hit by worries over domestic instability after the blast.

(Additional reporting by Selcuk Gokoluk in Ankara, Emma Ross-Thomas in Istanbul and Seyhmus Cakan in Diyarbakir)