LONDON, Nov 30: Iran and EU failed to reach a compromise over nuclear enrichment issue on Friday, with EU Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana complaining he was disappointed at Tehran’s refusal to budge on the issue and Iran’s nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili saying it was unacceptable to prevent Tehran from doing what it was legally allowed to do under the NPT.
Mr Solana and Mr Jalili, however, agreed to continue negotiations, following a five-hour meeting in London hours ahead of a deadline for the EU representative to report back to world powers on the issue.
“I expected more and therefore I am disappointed,” Mr Solana told reporters after a five-hour meeting with the Iranian nuclear negotiator.
“We will be in telephonic contact probably before the end of the month of December and, if the circumstances permit, we will meet, and that will be agreed later on,” he added.
At a press conference in the Iranian embassy later, Mr Jalili described the talks as ‘good’ but said that Tehran would not stop its nuclear plans under pressure from a new UN resolution, saying the resolutions passed so far had not stopped Iran from mastering uranium enrichment.
He said it was unacceptable to prevent Tehran from doing what it was legally entitled to do under international treaties.
“If some countries want to use the UN Security Council and its resolutions to stop Iran’s atomic work, surely they will not be successful,” Mr Jalili said.
Iranian officials have repeatedly said that enrichment was not up for discussion.
Before the talks, senior European officials said that nothing short of an Iranian pledge to seriously consider freezing its enrichment programme would defuse a push by the US and its allies for new sanctions.
Throughout the 18-month EU-Iran talks, Tehran has repeatedly insisted it will never suspend enrichment.
Tehran is already under two sets of UN sanctions, as well as unilateral US sanctions, for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment.
The council first imposed sanctions on Dec 23, ordering all countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programmes, and freeze assets of 10 key Iranian companies and 12 individuals related to the programmes.
In March, the Security Council imposed even tougher sanctions, including banning Iranian arms exports and freezing assets of 28 people and groups involved in Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes.
Both times, Iran responded by expanding nuclear enrichment. Tehran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and designed to generate electricity for civilian use.
Even as the talks got under way Iran’s former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a moderate, warned the West to avoid threats.—Agencies.
