Last update - 00:00 26/02/2007
Iran says it would respond positively to talks, but not to preconditions
By News Agencies
Iran's top nuclear negotiator on Monday said if the United States made a formal request for talks, Iran would respond positively but would not accept conditions placed on such discussions, the country's official news agency reported.
The Islamic Republic News Agency said Ari Larijani, who was in South Africa Monday, was responding to comments made by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who said Sunday that the U.S. would hold direct talks with Iran if Tehran suspended its nuclear program.
Larijani said Iran would welcome negotiations if the U.S. offered them through an official message but would agree to conditions. Iran has repeatedly said it would not freeze enrichment as a precondition to holding talks on its nuclear program.
Setting conditions means indicating the outcome of talks prior to holding
them. Therefore, such a policy has not been answerable, IRNA quoted Larijani as saying.
Iran and the United States are locked in a bitter standoff over Tehran's
disputed nuclear program. Washington accuses Iran of secretly developing
nuclear weapons - allegations Iran denies, saying its program is for peaceful purposes.
The UN Security Council late last year imposed limited sanctions on Iran
over its refusal to stop uranium enrichment and has threatened to slap further sanctions on Tehran after it defied another deadline last week to freeze enrichment.
Representatives from the five permanent Security Council members and Germany were in London Monday to seek new ways to pressure Iran to roll back its program. The six nations said they were seeking the best way to re-engage with Iran but no decisions were taken.
Larijani's comments come a day after hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said Iran would press ahead with uranium enrichment, describing Tehran's path as a train without brakes.
U.K.: Security Council pushing for negotiated solution on Iran
World powers started work on new sanctions against Iran at a meeting in London on Monday after Tehran refused to stop work on its nuclear program, but remain committed to seeking a negotiated solution, Britain said.
"We had a productive first discussion of the next steps...We began work on a new Security Council resolution," a Foreign Office statement said.
"We were encouraged by the seriousness of the discussions. These will continue, with further contacts later this week."
Restrictions on trade and arms for Iran were likely to be considered at a meeting of the five permanent Security Council members and Germany, as the world powers seek new ways to pressure Tehran to suspend parts of its nuclear program.
The UN's nuclear watchdog agency confirmed Thursday that Iran had ignored a Security Council ultimatum to freeze enrichment - a possible pathway to nuclear arms - and had instead expanded its program.
A senior British diplomat attending Monday's meeting said the representatives would examine options for further sanctions, including whittling away at lucrative export credits Iran receives from Europe in support of trade.
Restrictions on arms exports to Iran also are likely to be discussed, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Talks began around midday, said a spokesman for Britain's Foreign Office, on condition of anonymity in line with government rules.
Outside the Foreign Office, close to Britain's Parliament, a small group of demonstrators chanted slogans denouncing Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Many held placards bearing the slogan Ahmadinejad Must Go.
No conclusions are expected after the meeting. Instead, the diplomats will return to their home capitals to report on the issues they discussed.
The United States and its European allies have been urging Iran to halt its enrichment program and re-enter negotiations meant to ease concerns that Tehran could be intending to use its civilian nuclear power program as a cover to produce weapons. Iran has refused to give up enrichment, and insists its only interest in the technology is for the production of fuel for nuclear power plants.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said Monday that last week's nuclear watchdog report caused concern, and the preliminary talks were aimed at gathering opinions on how to proceed.
"What Iran shouldn't in any way do is make any mistake about the unity of the international community in opposition to its continuing flaunting of what the UN has said its obligations are," said Blair's spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules.
The senior British diplomat said there was evidence that the Security Council's adoption of limited economic sanctions against Iran in December had begun to show success.
The December 23 resolution ordered all countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs and to freeze assets of 10 key Iranian companies and 12 individuals related to those programs.
Besides a wider arms embargo and new economic penalties, other diplomats said last week that new, tougher measures could include a mandatory travel ban against individuals on the UN list and an expansion of the list to make more individuals and companies subject to sanctions.
Russia and China, which both have strong commercial ties to Tehran, forced other council nations - the U.S., Britain and France - to drop a travel ban and other tougher measures from the December resolution and it is likely they will resist some of the harsher restrictions this time around as well.
Still, the British diplomat said all participants in the talks supported an incremental tightening of sanctions.
On the possibility of economic penalties, he noted that European agencies provide $20 billion worth of export credits to support trade with Iran and that some of those credits were already shrinking.
Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad remained defiant. State-run radio quoted him as saying Sunday that Iran would press ahead with uranium enrichment. He also described his nation's path as a train with no brakes.
It is the world community that Iran has to answer to, not one of two individual countries - unfortunately the president seems not to be willing to do so, Blair's spokesman said.
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