AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
BRUSSELS: Talks between European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani Tuesday were “disappointing”, Solana's spokeswoman said.
The comment was in stark contrast to repeated EU expressions of hope in recent weeks regarding negotiations with Tehran, aimed at avoiding an esclation of the standoff between the Islamic republic and the West.
“The meeting was disappointing,” Cristina Gallach told AFP after the talks, saying the latest round of discussions with the Tehran envoy “was not satisfactory.”
In an effort to get it to freeze uranium enrichment — a process needed to fuel a nuclear reactor but which could also be used to make a bomb — the West on June 6 offered Iran a package of economic and political incentives.
The Brussels meeting was aimed at taking stock of developments since then, and to lay the groundwork for talks between foreign ministers from the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany in Paris on Wednesday.
The West wants Iran to respond positively to their offer before a meeting of leaders of the Group of Eight major industrialized countries starting in Saint Petersburg this weekend.
But hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed that Tehran will not respond before August, and a member of the Iranian delegation said Tuesday that “there is no deadline”.
An EU source meanwhile said Iran welcomed the offer, but indicated that little concrete progress was made — including on clarifying “ambiguities” which Tehran said it wants cleared up regarding the Western offer.
“They said that the offer was positive, but we didn't manage to find out what ambiguities they found. They skirted the real issues,” said the official, requesting anonymity.
Solana also underlined the importance of a commitment to suspend uranium enrichment — a key demand of the West, and in particular the United States which has refused to talk to Tehran unless it is fulfilled.
“We told them it was a key element in the negotiations,” said the source. “They didn't say that they wanted to discuss the conditions under which a suspension could take place,” he added.
Solana's spokeswoman added: “We remain determined to reach a negotiated solution” to the standoff.
Iran insists that it only wants to develop nuclear energy, but its lack of cooperation with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog and enrichment activities have raised suspicions that it is covertly trying to build an atomic bomb.
