Iranian, European leaders discuss nuclear standoff

? With the threat of new U.N. sanctions looming, senior European officials met Friday with a ranking envoy from Iran in what officials described as an attempt to defuse the crisis over the Islamic republic’s refusal to scrap uranium enrichment.

Also Friday, U.N. experts inspected a key Iranian nuclear facility, days after the U.N. atomic watchdog agency reported that its knowledge of the country’s activities was shrinking because of restrictions on visits.

Iran’s nuclear defiance – most recently documented in a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency that was sent to the U.N. Security Council – has set the stage for further council sanctions against Tehran, and a European official warned against undue expectations from Friday’s talks.