Iran's leadership has repeatedly said over the past couple of years that the destructive Stuxnet computer worm was easily vanquished and caused little damage to the centrifuges carrying out uranium enrichment.

The different views of the outcome of last weekend's talks between the international powers and Iran have already caused a public spat between Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama.

Iran's delegation to last Saturday's talks in Istanbul with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany (P5+1) refused to discuss the specifics of the demand that they curtail their uranium enric

Israel has begun marking its annual Holocaust Memorial Day.

As is customary, sirens went off at 10am local time across the Jewish state and pedestrians and drivers came to a standstill, in memory of the six million Jews who perished during the Shoah.

The Israeli Prime Minister has criticised international officials for a weak response to Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Representatives from the US. Britain, China, Russia, France and Germany met Iranian officials last week for nuclear talks. The discussions were disbanded until May 23, but were labelled "constructive and useful" by Baroness Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief.

A White House official has warned that time is running out for Iran to work with the international community.

Jay Carney, press secretary for the Obama administration, said that “the window was closing” for the Ahmadinejad regime to cooperate over its nuclear ambitions.

Until last week, it was not even clear where talks would happen.

On Friday, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) will meet their Iranian counterparts in Istanbul, for a new round of negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme. There is no reason to be optimistic about the talks, despite the initial mood expressed by Brussels and Washington.