He's confident of a deal very soon to unblock monitoring of Iran's suspected work on a nuclear weapon. That's the buoyant view of the UN's nuclear watchdog chief as he returned from a trip to Iran and a meeting with the country'sSecurity chief, Saaed Jalil.

Director General of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, gave a positive signal just as 6 big powers are set to meet Jalil and his team.

Iran says its programme of uranium enrichment is for peaceful purposes, and is only intended to generate electricity. World leaders think the plan is to make an atomic bomb.

Today in Baghdad representatives from America, Russia, China, Germany, France and Britain are talking with Iran to even out soaring tensions, make a plan for a way forward and reduce suspicions all-round. The crisis has vexed global financial markets and pushed up the price of oil.

The White House says the IAEA's progress toward an agreement with Iran is a step forward, but said it would keep pressure on Tehran until it sees concrete actions on curbing the speed of its nuclear program.