VIENNA, March 3: Iran and top EU powers failed on Friday to resolve a standoff over its nuclear work before a UN atomic watchdog meeting next week that may lead to Security Council action over fears Tehran secretly seeks nuclear bombs.
Iran proposed a ‘selective suspension’ of uranium enrichment in an effort to convince the European Union that it is not trying to make nuclear Weapons, diplomats said.
But the proposal did not meet the EU’s demand that Iran suspend all uranium enrichment, the process that makes nuclear reactor fuel but also what can in highly refined form be the explosive core of atom bombs.
After two-hour talks in Vienna at Iran’s request, foreign ministers or top diplomats from Germany, France and Britain, as well as EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, said Tehran had no new ideas on how to allay concerns about its intentions.
They repeated to Iran that it must shelve enrichment-related work to regain trust and spawn fresh negotiations on trade incentives, which could include Russia’s offer to purify uranium for Iran to prevent possible siphoning into bomb production.
The EU leaders said Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani gave no sign it would back off from its quest for sensitive nuclear technology that it says is meant only to generate electricity, not build bombs as the West suspects. Iran had no immediate comment. No more talks were scheduled.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation board of governors convenes on Monday to weigh a report by the IAEA chief saying essentially Iran has ignored a Feb 4 board resolution urging it to shelve uranium-enrichment work to ease the crisis.
Instead, Iran is vacuum-testing a cascade of 20 centrifuges, which convert uranium into fuel for power plants or, if highly purified, bombs. It also plans to install 3,000 centrifuges later this year in a push towards ‘industrial scale’ enrichment.
“We wanted to see if Iran was in a position to give a positive answer to the coming IAEA board. Our terms are simple and legitimate and would not jeopardise Iran’s development. Unfortunately we were not able to reach agreement,” French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said after the talks.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the EU3, which froze talks with Iran in January after it broke a moratorium on nuclear work, granted its request for a short-notice meeting hoping to hear a new proposal, but in vain.
“Today’s meeting came at a very critical point in time. Time is running short. If we want success (by negotiations), we have to get it now,” Steinmeier said in a statement.
“The IAEA board deliberations on Iran’s nuclear programme will happen next week and they will be of great significance — either we’ll achieve a deal enabling renewed negotiations or the matter will be referred to the Security Council.”
John Sawers, the British Foreign Office’s political director, said the EU3 were willing to meet Iranian officials again at short notice.
“We heard a new tone. It was more constructive. But there wasn’t the essential move of substance we were looking for,” he told reporters as he left the ornate German ambassador’s residence where the talks were held.
“What we heard was a request we accept they should go ahead with nuclear R&D (research and development). We are opposed to that because so-called R&D is the essential precursor to full-scale enrichment ... needed to build nuclear bombs.”
Mr Larijani said earlier Iran asked for another hearing with the EU because ‘we believe our programmes are clear and defensible’, but warned Russia’s proposal would die if the Security Council got involved.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei met Mr Larijani later on Friday, but said afterwards no deal emerged on demands Iran suspend enrichment again and cooperate fully with agency investigations.—Reuters
