Iran nuclear meet hit by Iceland volcano

An Iranian nuclear disarmament conference was hit by the volcanic cloud over Europe today as grounded flights forced several foreign dignatories to miss the summit's opening day.

An Iranian nuclear disarmament conference was hit by the volcanic cloud over Europe on Saturday as grounded flights forced several foreign dignatories to miss the summit's opening day.

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Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Mehdi Akhondzadeh told AFP the foreign ministers of Senegal, Ecuador, Indonesia and Cuba, who were to attend on Saturday, were "now expected to arrive tomorrow".

Akhondzadeh said some other experts were also stranded either in France or in The Netherlands due to flight cancellations as a result of the ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano.

Eight foreign ministers, including three from Arab nations Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, were present at the start of the two-day meeting.

Officials of several other countries and organisations like UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency are also attending the meeting which was inaugurated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.