Kharrazi Hopeful of Nuclear Deal With EU

Dow Jones Newswires:

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamel Kharrazi said Tuesday he was hopeful his country could reach a fruitful agreement with European Union countries on Iran 's nuclear activities. ...

"(The negotiations) are moving, but the final evaluation will be by mid-March," Kharrazi said after a meeting with Katalin Szili, Hungary's parliament speaker. "We have to wait until then to have exactly our conclusion on how the negotiations have gone." ...

He said Iran and the E.U. countries were searching for a "mechanism that would remove the concerns" that Iran could divert its uranium enrichment activities toward the production of nuclear weapons. ...

Asked about North Korea's recent announcement that it possessed nuclear weapons, Kharrazi said the Iranian situation was different because inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency were still being allowed to conduct inspections.

He said Iran was honoring the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the international agreement barring the spread of nuclear weapons.

"Iran has been sticking to membership of the NPT and has always welcomed the inspectors of the IAEA," he said. "The IAEA inspectors are currently in Iran carrying out inspections."

Kharrazi also said that while Iran maintained diplomatic relations with North Korea, Iran "had not received any specific message" from North Korea on nuclear issues. ...