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European Union diplomats said on Wednesday night that Iran had failed to meet international demands for an immediate discussion on its nuclear programme after Tehran sent a fresh proposal on the issue to the world’s big powers.

As expectations grow that negotiations on United Nations sanctions will now begin in New York, EU diplomats said Iran’s response to a long-standing incentives package had failed to contain any substance.

“We are looking at a five-page paper on global issues with very little on nuclear,” said one EU diplomat. Another said: “The document fails to contain even the minimum content ... to get us to negotiate.”