Iran, EU start atom talks

Iran's top nuclear negotiator and the EU foreign policy chief met yesterday in what may be a last chance to avert UN Security Council moves to hit Tehran with sanctions over its atomic ambitions.

The European Union's Javier Solana and Iran's Ali Larijani began talks after two days of uncertainty reflecting doubts over whether the talks would achieve anything. The Solana-Larijani encounter was originally scheduled for Wednesday but postponed at the last minute.

Solana's spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said the meeting was expected to run for about three hours and it was hoped there would be a statement afterwards. The reluctance of both sides to commit to the talks betrayed a war of nerves that has intensified since Iran ignored a council deadline of August 31 to stop enriching uranium, a process that could yield atomic bombs.

Solana will want Larijani to clarify Iran's 21-page reply to an offer from six big powers of trade and other incentives to halt its nuclear fuel programme. Specifically, Solana is expected to home in on hints in the response that Tehran could curb the programme if engaged in negotiations to implement the benefits on offer.

But a diplomat familiar with Tehran's position said Larijani was likely to again rule out the powers' precondition that enrichment be suspended indefinitely. He said looming council action was only poisoning prospects for agreement. A diplomat from one of three EU states, France, Britain and Germany, in the sextet of powers said: "We don't think this meeting will provide a basis for negotiations.'

Regardless of the Vienna talks, US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said after a meeting of the six in Berlin on Friday that Washington expected the council to begin deliberations next week on a draft sanctions resolution. But key EU allies as well as Russia and China voiced growing doubt about the speed with which Washington wanted to pursue financial and diplomatic sanctions against Tehran, its arch-foe but also the world's fourth-biggest oil exporter. To various degrees, they prefer further talks to explore a compromise that would save face on both sides.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, speaking after a China-EU summit in Helsinki yesterday, urged the international community to exercise caution over sanctions and reiterated his government's call for Iran to "take seriously" concerns over the programme.

"Sanctions or pressure will not necessarily bring about the goal of solving the Iran nuclear issue," he said. "Our objective is to promote an ultimate peaceful resolution of the Iran nuclear issue."

Iran insists it only wants to generate electricity. Western powers suspect the work is a smokescreen for efforts to build atom bombs. UN nuclear watchdog probes have raised many questions, but found no proof of diversions into bomb-making.

Tehran renewed calls for negotiations in its reply to the offer of trade inducements. But it ruled out shelving enrichment to qualify for the benefits, a step Western leaders see as vital to creating trust in Iranian intentions.

"They (Iran) have not been convinced of the technical or legal justification for suspension. What happens (about suspension) would depend on the outcome of negotiations," the diplomat versed in Iran's stance told Reuters.

But an internal position paper drawn up by France, Britain and Germany said Iran was seeking to split world opinion and weaken any sanctions by withholding a clear reply to big power terms, according to a diplomat from one of the "EU3" powers.