IRAN/EU: Iran and the EU failed yesterday to resolve a stand-off over Tehran's nuclear programme before a UN atomic watchdog meeting next week which may lead to Security Council action over fears that Iran is secretly planning to acquire nuclear weapons.
After two hours of talks in Vienna, at Iran's request, foreign ministers and diplomats from Germany, France and Britain, as well as EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, said Tehran had offered no new ideas on how to allay concerns over its intentions.
The EU repeated to Iran that it must shelve enrichment-related work to regain trust and enable fresh negotiations to take place on trade incentives, which could include Russia's offer to purify uranium for Iran to prevent possible siphoning into bomb production.
The EU delegation said that Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, had given no indication that Tehran would back off from its quest for sensitive nuclear technology, which it says is meant only to generate electricity, not build bombs, as the West suspects.
Iran made no immediate comment and no further talks were scheduled.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors is due to convene on Monday to consider a report by the IAEA chief which will state that Iran has ignored a board resolution issued on February 4th urging it to shelve uranium-enrichment work.
Instead, Iran is vacuum-testing a cascade of some 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 drive towards "industrial scale" enrichment.
"We wanted to see if Iran was in a position to give a positive answer to the coming IAEA board . . . 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 that the "EU 3", which suspended talks with Iran in January after it broke a 2½-year moratorium on nuclear work, had acceded to Tehran's 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 [ through negotiations], we have to get it now," Mr Steinmeier said in a statement after the talks.
John Sawers, political director of the British Foreign Office, commented: "We heard a new tone . . . But there was not the essential move of substance we were looking for. What we heard was a request that we accept they should go ahead with nuclear 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."
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei met Mr Larijani later yesterday but said afterwards that no deal had emerged in the face of demands that Iran should suspend its enrichment programme again and co-operate fully with agency investigations.
"We are working to go back to negotiations. It is going to be our ultimate aim to resolve the issue. I think issues have been clarified," Mr ElBaradei told reporters.