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Iran Holds Tough Line as Nuclear Talks Resume
With Europe
By REUTERS
Filed at 8:58 a.m. ET
New York Times
VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran reaffirmed its determination
to pursue a fully-fledged nuclear programme on Wednesday
as the top three European powers reopened dialogue
with Tehran over concerns that it is secretly trying
to make atomic bombs.
Confrontation rather than compromise has been brewing
after declarations from Iran that the Holocaust
is a myth and Israel should be wiped out, and a
European Union accusation on Tuesday that Tehran
has systematically violated human rights at home.
Iranian delegate Mohammad Mehdi Akhonzadeh said
after a morning session of talks -- the first face-to-face
meeting of the sides in four months -- that the
atmosphere was ``good.''
``We expressed our views and came to know each other.
It's too early to talk about results. We'll know
more after the second session this afternoon,''
he said outside the French embassy in Vienna where
the meeting took place.
The Iranian and French, German and British envoys
were to reconvene at Iran's mission to the Vienna-based
U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA).
EU officials had no immediate comment on the talks.
They said earlier the likely outcome would be a
decision, taken back in EU capitals, on whether
to meet again in January.
The Islamic republic's increasingly vocal hostility
toward the Jewish state and commitment to developing
sensitive technology that could yield ingredients
for nuclear weaponry have stoked Western concern
about its atomic ambitions.
Tehran says it aims only to generate more electricity
for an energy-hungry economy. But it dodged U.N.
nuclear inspectors for 18 years until 2003 and the
West says its cooperation since has fallen short
of what is needed to regain diplomatic confidence.
EU officials said Wednesday's meeting would be ``talks
about talks'' -- exploring whether any basis exists
for renewed negotiations. The EU3 froze the talks
in August.
``We won't reopen negotiations, we will only listen
to what the Iranians have to say, especially about
research and development,'' said an EU3 diplomat,
alluding to centrifuge machines capable of enriching
uranium to arms-grade level.
``We will see whether what they say to us in private
is any different from what they have been declaring
in public, to see if there is wiggle room for resuming
negotiations.''
IRAN HOLDS FIRM
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki gave
the West little ground for hope. He said Tehran
aimed to establish a timetable for re-launching
uranium enrichment, which it suspended under a 2003
agreement with the EU trio.
``We don't want talks just for the sake of talks,''
he told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday.
Tehran's unswerving rejection of compromise proposals
to have its uranium purified by others abroad, to
minimize chances of it grasping the complex technology
needed to make bombs, has depressed prospects for
a diplomatic solution.
``When we talk about (wanting) nuclear technology
it means that enrichment to produce fuel for our
reactors should be done inside Iran and it means
having the complete nuclear fuel cycle,'' Mottaki
said.
He added that Iran would not again suspend uranium
ore processing at its Isfahan plant, the resumption
of which in August led to the breakdown of the EU-Iran
talks, and intended to restart preliminary work
on enrichment technology.
``Isfahan is a done deal,'' he said. ``The research
and building parts for (enrichment) centrifuges
is not the same as enriching uranium. When the time
comes we will announce the resumption of these activities,''
he added.
Western diplomats said recent public statements
by Iranian officials gave scant cause for optimism.
``The problem is, Iran's hardliners were encouraged
to believe they could inch forward toward enrichment
when they managed to restart uranium processing
without provoking a referral to the U.N. Security
Council,'' one diplomat said.
U.S.-EU moves to send Iran's case to the Security
Council for possible sanctions have stumbled on
resistance by Russia, China and developing nations
on the board of the watchdog International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA).
The IAEA board opted in November to put off any
referral to give time for promoting an EU-backed
proposal for Russia to enrich Iran's uranium under
a joint venture.
But Tehran has rebuffed the idea and interest in
it seems to have waned in Moscow, which has major
energy and arms links with Iran, including a $1
billion nuclear reactor under construction and a
$1 billion package of missiles and other hardware.
Some analysts believe that if dialogue runs aground
again, the way would be cleared to an emergency
IAEA board session and vote to put Iran in Security
Council hands. But Russia and China could veto sanctions
as permanent powers on the Council.
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