EU officials meet Iranian negotiator over nuclear issue
European Union officials from Britain, Germany and France heard out Iran’s deputy nuclear negotiator Javad Vaedi today at closed-door talks called by Iran to try to stall a deepening crisis between Tehran and the West over its nuclear programme.
Diplomats said officials from the three nations were meeting Vaedi to see whether talks could resume with Iran over its nuclear enrichment programme.
But EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the EU would maintain its tough stance against Iran’s desire to restart its programme, which the EU and Washington fear could be used to develop nuclear weapons. Iran rejects these claims.
The three EU nations representing the 25-nation bloc, and the US have called for Iran’s referral to the UN Security Council, a move that could lead to sanctions. China and Russia remain unconvinced.
The Iranians “have taken decisions that were absolutely incompatible with the commitments that they have made”, Solana told reporters.
Solana said he would report back to a meeting of EU foreign ministers over lunch today. He said a possible way out of the crisis is for Iran to sign up to a Russian compromise proposal. Moscow has offered to process uranium on Iran’s behalf.
“We are looking with interest at that proposal,” said Solana. “It is a proposal in which enrichment would be done outside, in Russia, but at the moment no agreement has been reached between Russia and Iran.”
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said the EU had to push Iran to accept the Russian proposal.
Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said on Friday that the Russian proposal does not meet “all the nuclear energy needs of Iran”.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the door remained open for a compromise between Iran and Europe.
The Brussels meeting, which EU officials stressed was not a negotiating session, comes as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joins foreign ministers from the four other permanent Security Council members – Britain, France, Russia and China – plus Germany – in London tonight in an attempt to break the diplomatic deadlock over Iran’s nuclear programme.
The 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency meets on Thursday at the UN agency’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria, to discuss the Security Council referral.
Uranium enriched to a low level is used as fuel to produce electricity but further enrichment makes it suitable for use in a nuclear bomb.
| Related Stories: |
|
