TEHRAN, 24 May 2005 — A senior Iranian official said yesterday that crisis talks this week with Britain, France and Germany are likely to be the last chance for the two sides to reach a deal on the Islamic republic’s nuclear program. Speaking in Brussels, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw acknowledged the talks were set to be “tough” but nevertheless said he was optimistic.
“Nothing special would happen” if the talks failed, national security official Ali Agha Mohammadi told the student news agency ISNA, adding that Iran would simply continue the “natural process” of pressing on with controversial nuclear fuel work.
“We would reach the conclusion that we haven’t got along with them,” said the spokesman for Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
Iran may view this as being “nothing special”, but a breakdown in the talks and a resumption of nuclear fuel work — the focus of suspicions that Iran is seeking to develop the atomic bomb — could see the country referred to the UN Security Council.
Emergency talks between Iranian nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani and the three European foreign ministers — Straw of Britain, Michel Barnier of France and Joschka Fischer of Germany — are due to take place in Geneva tomorrow, the day after an “experts” level meeting in Brussels.
Iran has agreed to hold off from resuming uranium conversion - a precursor to the ultrasensitive enrichment process - pending this week’s talks.
“The issue before us will be to ensure that both sides stick by the agreements which we have already entered into ... in Paris in November,” Straw said, referring to Iran’s pledge to suspend key nuclear enrichment activities.
Of the talks he said: “I think they will be tough, but I think very much they will be successful. The Iranians are tough to negotiate with but so far the Iranians have accepted, as we, that it is in the interest of Iran, Europe and the international community that we should reach agreement.”
Iran agreed in November with Britain, France and Germany to suspend its uranium conversion and enrichment activities, which Washington believes conceal its nuclear armament intentions.
