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Tehran to Talk With EU Before IAEA Meeting Iran Negotiator Says Tehran Will Hold Talks With EU Before U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Meeting MOSCOW - Iran will hold talks with three European foreign ministers in a new effort to defuse tension over Tehran's insistence on running a program that can make nuclear arms, a European diplomat said Thursday. Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said Tehran would conduct negotiations with Britain, France and Germany which have represented the EU in nuclear negotiations with Iran prior to a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency board on Monday. The Vienna-based IAEA board of governors could start a process leading to punishment by the U.N. Security Council, which has the authority to impose sanctions on Iran. Britain, France, and Germany held talks with Iran on behalf of the 25-member European Union last year, but Iran rejected a proposal to give up its uranium enrichment program in return for economic incentives. The meeting between the European powers and Iran was requested by Tehran, said the European diplomat, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue. He emphasized the Europeans would not bend on demands that Iran give up all uranium enrichment on home soil. Another European official suggested the foreign ministers had agreed to the meeting to dispel any notion Europe was no longer interested in a negotiated solution. "We are in a listening mode nothing more," the official, who wasn't authorized to speak to the media, said on condition of anonymity. Iran insists its nuclear program is only to generate power, but many in the West fear Iran is aiming to develop atomic weapons. Enrichment is a process that can produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or fissile material for a weapon. Moscow has offered to have Iran's uranium enrichment program transferred to Russia, a move backed by the United States and the European Union as a way to provide more assurances that Tehran's atomic program could not be used to build weapons. Talks between Iran and Moscow broke down Wednesday, but Larijani said those talks should continue and warned that handing over the issue to the U.N. Security Council would kill Moscow's initiative. "America is lying, trying to destroy the Russian proposal," he said at a news conference in Moscow Thursday. "The Americans' insistence on handing over the Iranian nuclear dossier to the U.N. Security Council means the destruction of the Russian proposal." Larijani said that his team had put forward a "package proposal" in Wednesday's talks, denying that the talks had ended in failure. He said the two countries would meet again but that no date had been set. "We need to give diplomats time to look at it," he said. Russia has urged Iran to freeze its domestic uranium enrichment program as a condition for its offer, but Iran has said it won't do that. Larijani said that the two sides had "achieved mutual understanding" on some issues connected with the demand for a moratorium but did not elaborate. The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that Iran's persistence on conducting its own enrichment was a move in the wrong direction and a reason to hand over the Iranian nuclear dossier to the U.N. Security Council. Britain's U.N. ambassador said he expects the IAEA to report Iran to the Security Council. "My expectation is that the board will reaffirm its view that Iran ought to comply with the wishes of the board," said Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry. "It would surprise me if as a result of that meeting the issue was not reported to the Security Council." It remains unclear whether veto-wielding Security Council members Russia and China, which have close economic and political ties with Iran, will back possible U.N. sanctions against Iran. Larijani also said that Tehran would accept inspections by the United Nations nuclear watchdog if the IAEA allows it to pursue its nuclear program. Asked about IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei's reported statement that the world may have to get used to the idea of Iran having limited enrichment capabilities, Larijani said it reflected a "realistic approach." "I hope that people and ears can be found to listen to this proposal. I think that Mr. ElBaradei's idea can be turned into a new formula, it can be studied," he said. Associated Press reporters George Jahn in Vienna, Austria, and John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. By JUDITH INGRAM The Associated Press FONTE: ABC News Internet Ventures Voltar |
