Tuesday, February 01, 2005

EU Rejects Iran Call to Speed Up Nuclear Talks

Reuters, Yahoo! News:
The European Union rejected on Tuesday a call by Iran to speed up talks on its disputed nuclear program, insisting the pace of negotiations was right and that the dialogue was on track.

Gholam Reza Aqazadeh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told reporters after meeting EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana that he had called for an acceleration of the talks. ...

Diplomats close to the talks have told Reuters the only such guarantee acceptable to the so-called "EU3" countries would be a complete end to enrichment.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani has insisted Iran will resume enrichment if the EU talks, which have no formal deadline, show no progress. A new round is due soon, with Feb. 7 mooted as a possible date. ...