Russia and the West overcame differences to strike a landmark nuclear deal with Iran but are now divided on how well the UN atomic agency is reporting on whether Tehran is meeting its commitments. Western nations want more details while Moscow opposes their push. Because all six want to avoid conflicts that could complicate Iranian compliance of a deal that was years in the making, their differences are mostly playing out behind the scenes. Vladimir Voronkov, Moscow's chief delegate to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, which is monitoring the deal, acknowledges there is a dispute that could affect the amount of information made public about Iran's nuclear program in the future. "In our view it's an absolutely balanced document," Voronkov said ahead of a discussion of the latest IAEA report on Iran by the agency's 35-nation board scheduled for Tuesday. "But some of our colleagues would like to have more details." The US, Britain, France and Germany negotiated the deal with Iran along with Russia and China, and all six countries will continue to have much deeper insight into whether Iran is upholding its side of the deal than what the IAEA reports to other nations on its board. But Voronkov told The Associated Press that diplomats from some of those Western countries believe the Feb. 26 IAEA report was too superficial to provide the broader view they feel is needed to show Iran that the world was watching. China shares the Russian view. Iran complains that the report is too detailed, leaving IAEA chief Yukiya Amano caught in the middle. — AP
