10 November 2004	Wednesday	26 Ramazan 1425

VIENNA, Nov 9: The United States is skeptical about the EU's efforts to cut a deal with Iran to get it to give up uranium enrichment that could be used to make nuclear weapons, a senior US official said here on Tuesday.

Assistant Secretary of State for arms control Stephen Rademaker said the United States is "very sceptical of Iran's good faith in these negotiations."

He said the United States has "told our European allies that we will not stand in the way of their effort to come to some diplomatic understanding with Iran but we are very sceptical of Iran's long-term intentions and we do not expect Iran to comply over the long-term with any commitment not to develop nuclear weapons."

"We have made clear that our view is that Iran is seriously embarked on an effort to develop nuclear weapons in violation of Iran's obligations as a non-nuclear weapons state under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)," Rademaker said.

An Iranian negotiator, Hossein Moussavian, announced on Sunday that Iran and the European Union have reached a "preliminary agreement" on easing concerns over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme following two days of crucial negotiations in Paris.

The accord is centred on demands that Iran maintain and widen a suspension of its sensitive uranium enrichment activities or else risk being referred by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

According to European diplomats, the tentative deal still contains several sticking points - including the length and extent of any halt on fuel cycle work.-AFP