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A new round of international sanctions against Iran looked almost inevitable today after the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, said talks with the Islamic republic were at a "stalemate", and the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appeared to rule out a compromise.

ElBaradei delivered a despairing account of Iran's nuclear compliance at a board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but he also ignited a simmering row with France and Israel, when he accused "some member states" of making "politically motivated" allegations against him.

French and Israeli officials have both accused ElBaradei of suppressing damning evidence of Iranian attempts to build nuclear weapons. ElBaradei rejected that claim, saying he had presented all the evidence that had been properly checked in his report on Iran. But the French foreign ministry stuck to its position this afternoon, saying: "France attended a technical briefing at the agency open to all member states. Not all that information was reflected in the report."

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