By JERUSALEM POST STAFFNobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei on Friday said the international community is losing patience with Iran over its nuclear program.
ElBaradei, who shares the coveted award with the International Atomic Energy Agency he leads, said he hopes outstanding nuclear issues with Iran will be clarified next year because "the international community is losing patience with the nature of the program."
He encouraged European negotiators to continue talks with Iran.
"The parties need to sit together, discuss their grievances and reach a solution," he said. "If we can do that without escalating the problem, all the much better."
No date has been set to resume the talks with Britain, France and Germany, which broke off in August after Tehran restarted uranium conversion, a precursor to enrichment.
The IAEA and much of the world community have been pushing Iran's religious leaders to allow closer inspection of the nuclear program that Tehran claims is intended only for energy.