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Iran holds tough line as EU nuclear talks resume
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-21 18:56

Iran reiterated its intention to develop a fully-fledged nuclear program on Wednesday as Europe's top three powers revived a dialogue with Tehran over suspicions it is secretly trying to make nuclear bombs.


Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks to students of Tarbiyat-Modarres University in Tehran, December 18, 2005. [Reuters]

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.

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 program.

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.

Wednesday's meeting between Iran and Britain, France and Germany in Vienna will be "talks about talks" -- exploring whether any basis exists for resuming negotiations on the future of Iran's nuclear activity, frozen by the "EU3" last 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."

A diplomat said the talks had begun mid-morning at the French embassy in Vienna.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the talks should be without preconditions and establish a timetable for Iran to resume 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.
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