Iran has failed to keep its pledge to explain to the UN nuclear watchdog on Thursday its decision to resume nuclear-fuel research, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials said.

Iranian experts and officials from the agency were expected to meet in Vienna to discuss Tehran's plan to resume nuclear-fuel research, which was suspended two years ago.

However, the meeting was cancelled after the Iranian delegation failed to take part, said IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming.

An unnamed agency official said earlier that the meeting had already started, but Fleming said: "The meeting never took place."

The IAEA does not know why the Iranian delegation failed to honor its promise, and no new meeting has been scheduled, she added.

Iran, which insists that its civil nuclear program aim solely to generate electricity, told the IAEA in a letter on Tuesday that it was planning to resume nuclear-fuel research on Jan. 9.

The announcement prompted the IAEA to seek "clarifications" and sparked alarm in the West, which suspects that Iran is seeking to make atom bombs under the cover of a civil nuclear program.

IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei called on Iran to explain its decision in detail. A meeting was first planned for Wednesday but postponed after Iran reneged on its promise to clarify its plan. But Iranian representatives then said they were prepared to discuss on Thursday the country's relaunch of nuclear-fuel research.

ElBaradei said on Monday that the agency's board of governors hoped Iran could refrain from activities linked to uranium enrichment as a key confidence-building measure.

Iran had suspended parts of its nuclear fuel program in 2003 during negotiations with Britain, France and Germany. The talks broke down in August, after Iran resumed uranium conversion activities in Isfahan in central Iran.

The conversion is the first step in the process of making enriched uranium, which can produce both nuclear fuel or the fissile core of warheads.

Source: Xinhua