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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