Iran and Syria challenge U.N. watchdog governors

VIENNA-U.N. nuclear watchdog governors meet on Monday to consider Iran's blockade of an investigation into alleged atom bomb research, but a resurfacing of Cold War-style tensions will prevent them doing much about it.A second inquiry targeting Syria has faltered too.Meetings of the 35-nation body have at times been dry runs for U.N. Security Council action against suspected nuclear proliferators. But unity of purpose, never guaranteed, has been further undermined by tensions between Russia and the West.With the two sides at odds over Russia's invasion of Georgia, diplomats said consensus on even a largely symbolic resolution against Iran by International Atomic Energy Agency governors was out of the question in Vienna this week-let alone tougher sanctions by the Security Council in New York.Western powers at the IAEA board meeting will call again on Iran to stop stonewalling or risk more punishment, but their demand will lack teeth in the absence of any realistic prospect for new sanctions.Russia, China and developing states, together comprising over half of the governors, were likely to stress the need for cooperation by Iran but also dialogue, not punishment."There's no basis for action here and you won't see any effective action in New York for quite a while," a senior Vienna diplomat said after six-power talks, soured by friction over Georgia, went nowhere in Washington on Friday.The IAEA believes Iran is withholding information needed to explain "serious" intelligence allegations that it conducted a series of linked projects to process uranium, test high explosives and revamp a missile cone in a way suitable for a nuclear warhead.

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