Last update - 00:00 10/12/2007
EU: Dual-track approach is the only way to solve Iran nuclear crisis
By News Agencies
The European Union will pursue its line of offering negotiations to Iran over inducements to halt uranium enrichment while backing moves towards UN sanctions, the bloc's negotiator with Tehran said on Monday.
"For the moment the EU position has not been changed and there is no question of its changing. That is the dual-track approach," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told reporters in Brussels.
He was speaking after the U.S. intelligence services said this month Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program four years ago. Tehran denies wanting a bomb and says its programme is for purely peaceful means.
Solana has a mandate from major powers to explore the scope for negotiations with Iran. The United States and several EU capitals have also said they expect no change in international policy on Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Because of international concerns that Iran is secretly pursuing nuclear weapons, the UN Security Council has imposed two rounds of sanctions against Tehran and demanded that it halt uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for power plants or, potentially, atom bombs.
Iran, IAEA open fresh round of nuclear talks
Iran and a team from the United Nations nuclear watchdog started a fresh round of talks on Monday in Tehran to resolve doubts about the Islamic Republic's nuclear work, Iranian media reported.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation arrived in Iran's capital on Sunday, less than a week after a U.S. intelligence report said Iran halted its nuclear weapons programme in 2003.
Iran denies ever having had such a military programme but welcomed the report that contradicted the U.S. administration's assertions that Tehran was actively working on a nuclear bomb.
"The nuclear negotiations started on Monday morning and will last three days," the semi-official news agency Fars reported.
Iran and the UN body agreed in August on a timetable to answer outstanding questions about nuclear activities which Tehran says are aimed at generating electricity.
Previous rounds of talks dealt with centrifuges used to enrich uranium and other issues. The new talks are expected to focus on questions about particles of arms-grade enriched uranium found by IAEA inspectors at Tehran's Technical University.
"The talks will be focused on the source of contamination," the report said without elaborating.
Enriched uranium can be used both for fuelling power plants and, if refined much further, for making bombs. But Iran says it wants to refine uranium only as an alternative source of electricity so it can export more of its oil and gas.
The IAEA said in a report last month Tehran was cooperating but not proactively. IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran was making "good progress" in solving questions about its plans.
The UN Security Council has imposed two sets of limited sanctions on Tehran for its refusal to halt enrichment, the part of Iran's programme that most worries the West.
Last week's U.S. report released by the 16 intelligence agencies is expected to complicate U.S. efforts to push through new UN sanctions against Iran over its atomic work.
U.S. President George W. Bush said after the report that Iran still remained a danger because it was mastering technology with a military use.
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