IAEA and Iran step forward on long road Yukiya Amano, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has always taken a hard-headed approach towards Iran in the three years he has headed the United Nations nuclear watchdog. For a long time, when the agency was run by his predecessor Mohamed ElBaradei, the IAEA had the reputation of not confronting Iran over evidence it was seeking to build a bomb, for fear of fuelling an all-out attack by Israel and the US. Mr Amano, by contrast, has often looked much tougher - unveiling a substantial dossier last November in which he spelt out how Iran was not co-operating with the IAEA over allegations that it had sought to build a nuclear weapon in the past. So if Mr Amano says he is about to sign a deal with Iran under which the regime starts answering those questions that is significant. It suggests that Mr Amano believes Iran will genuinely start to co-operate with the IAEA for the first time in four years - possibly giving access to sites where western intelligence agencies believe weapons work has been done. That said, western diplomats are likely to see this IAEA-Iran agreement as only a partial victory. "Clearing up what Iran's nuclear weapons-building activities have been in the past is certainly important and something we welcome," says a western official. It shows Iran really is feeling the pressure to co-operate because of international oil sanctions. But the same diplomat argues that talks over past activities will take months, possibly years to complete. And the problem is we don't have that much time. We need to get a more meaningful and immediate move that demonstrates to the Israelis that current work on the Iranian programme really has stopped. That is why Wednesday's meeting between Iran and six world powers in Baghdad is so important. Iran's prospective deal with the IAEA will create good atmospherics in Baghdad. But diplomats say the fundamental issue is that, in Baghdad, Iran agrees to confidence-building moves that show the world - and Israel in particular - that it has stopped current progress on its nuclear programme. What kind of moves do the US and its allies want? For them, the focus of the Baghdad talks is to get Iran to halt its enrichment of uranium with a concentration of 20 per cent, a level that is worrying because it is very close to weapons grade. As a first step in confidence building, the west wants Iran to stop all further production at 20 per cent. It wants to see Iran declare that there will be no further development of its enrichment site at Fordow, which is impregnable from air attack. It would also like to see Iran exporting out of the country a large part of its existing stock of 1,200 kg of 20 per cent enriched uranium so that it can be reprocessed in a way that cannot be used for a weapon. In return for this, the six world powers would make concessions. They would help Iran develop its civil nuclear programme. They would help bolster safety at Iran's nuclear facilities, something that diplomats say seems to worry the Iranians. They would help Iran obtain spare parts for its civil aircraft, many of which are grounded because of a lack of equipment. Iran has been talking through agreeing such a deal in the run up to today's talks. But western diplomats fear a stumbling block. The fear is that, in return for making concessions on 20 per cent uranium, Iran will demand something much more substantial - a declaration by the US and European Union that they will not press ahead with oil sanctions that are due to be imposed in July; and that they will peel back others that are already operational. The problem is that the US and EU are not prepared to do this. "If Iran were to make a truly significant concession - perhaps committing to close down its Fordow facility altogether - then that may warrant reversing sanctions," says a diplomat. But oil sanctions are our big card, forcing the Iranians to the table. We don't take away that card at the start of a negotiation. In Baghdad, the likelihood is that all sides will make some progress. However, the Iranian insistence that western sanctions should be scaled back fast is not going to disappear quickly. The fear among western diplomats is that Iran believes that modest measures - including its deal with Mr Amano - will be enough to end international sanctions. The US and its allies believe much more is needed.