December 04, 2007	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 23, 1428

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 3: France, Britain and the United States are considering more stringent UN sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, after European foreign-policy chief Javier Solana said he was “disappointed” with five hours of talks with Iranian negotiator in Paris on Friday.

Diplomats here said the Paris meeting had been considered a last chance for Iran to give in to UN pressure and freeze its enrichment programme before a EU report that would be used in the discussion of new sanctions.

Iran’s new top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, had promised to bring “new initiatives” to the meeting and he told the Europeans that the matter was closed as all matters relating to its nuclear programme would be discussed with the International Atomic Agency.

Mr Jalili said Iran was not to blame. “(W)e defended the Iranian nation’s rights and stressed fulfilling our duties and that the Iranian nation will not accept anything that goes beyond the NPT,” he said. “If some people have become disappointed because they cannot deprive Iran of its natural rights, then this is another matter.”

Jalili said Iran’s experience of being deprived of airplane spare parts from the US for years, and imposition of multiple layers of UN and US sanctions, meant Iranians had little trust in the West.

Iran denies it wants a nuclear weapon. In a letter Friday to UN

Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran had “no difficulty with taking transparency measures,” had gone “far beyond its treaty obligations,” and that IAEA inspectors had carried out 2,500 days’ worth of inspections to confirm that “allegations have been completely baseless.”