European Heavyweights Pressure Iran over Nuclear Program

22/10/2004| IslamWeb

Europe's three heavyweight states presented Iran with a last-chance proposal to reassure the world it is not secretly developing atomic weapons and Iran said talks would continue. "We are at an initial stage, matters have to be considered on both sides," Iranian official Sirus Naseri told reporters after the three-hour meeting in Vienna. "I think we'll get together in a matter of a few days," Naseri said, adding that the next meeting might also be in Vienna. According to a confidential text obtained by AFP and confirmed by diplomats here, Britain, France and Germany are offering valuable nuclear technology if Tehran indefinitely suspends all uranium enrichment activities and threatening possible UN sanctions if it does not. This carrot-and-stick approach would include a light-water reactor if Iran complies with the request. The proposal was a last chance for Iran to come clean before the UN nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), decides on November 25 whether Iran is cooperating with it or not. Thursday's talks involved the political directors of the foreign ministries of Europe's big three, who met with Amir Hossein Zamani-Nia, the Iranian foreign ministry's international political affairs director. Zamani-Nia refused to talk to reporters after the meeting in Vienna. Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Pirooz Hosseini, had told AFP earlier that no decision would be reached Thursday concerning the European proposal. "We have to receive the text and then take it back to our capital and see if it is approved, and if it is not approved, then that is another story," he said. Iran refused Wednesday to give up on producing enriched uranium, which is the process used to make fuel for civilian reactors but also the explosive core of nuclear weapons. The United States wants the IAEA, which since February 2003 has been investigating Iran on US claims that the Islamic Republic has a covert nuclear weapons program, to send Iran before the UN Security Council, which could impose punishing sanctions. But the European trio have so far opposed this, favoring instead a policy of "constructive engagement" with Tehran. They reached an agreement with Iran in October 2003 to suspend uranium enrichment, but this did not include support activities such as building centrifuges and making the feed gas for the enrichment process. The Europeans are now ready to promise Iran a range of measures, including access to nuclear fuel for its civilian reactors and recognizing Iran's right to a peaceful nuclear power program, according to the seven-page confidential paper the trio presented to the G8 group of industrialized nations last week in Washington. "We would support the acquisition by Iran of a light water research reactor," the paper said, adding that the EU would "be ready to resume negotiations on an EU/Iran trade and cooperation agreement," and back Russia's building of a nuclear reactor for Iran. The Europeans also promised help on a range of "political and security issues," saying they would continue to regard the main Iranian resistance group the People's Mojehidin (MEK) "as a terrorist organization." If Iran does not carry out a full, verified suspension of enrichment, the European trio would join the United States in calling for it to be hauled before the Security Council, the confidential paper said. Naseri said Iran wanted "to have a clear view about what the end game is." He said the Europeans were reacting to a proposal Iran had made in September for a global solution to Tehran's problems with Western nations, including security agreements for the Middle East. "Both sides have been talking about trying to come to a negotiated agreement which will be on the basis of a win-win situation for both sides and be acceptable to both sides," Naseri said. Naseri refused to say whether Iran would honor the November 25 deadline set by the IAEA to immediately halt all uranium enrichment activities. "There is no time line, no deadline whatsoever in any form or matter as far as Iran is concerned," Naseri said. He said both Iran and Europe had agreed that "neither side will use or resort to any point as a point of threat." **PHOTO CAPTION*** The Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran. (AFP)