PARIS/TEHRAN, 6 November 2004 — The European Union and Iran held last-chance talks in Paris yesterday with both sides seeking a compromise over Tehran’s nuclear program in order to head off a US-led bid to bring the matter before the UN Security Council. The negotiations were being held at an undisclosed location in the French capital and conducted at “senior official” level, with the troika of Britain, France and Germany representing the 25-nation EU.
“It is part of the continuing diplomatic process aimed at finding a resolution with Iran ahead of the meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in the week starting Nov. 25,” a British diplomat said. “There are various proposals and packages on the table but our policy is not to discuss them with the press. All I can say is that we are very keen to get an agreement before the IAEA meeting.”
Officials in Tehran said earlier that the atmosphere surrounding Friday’s talks was more relaxed than it had been at previous meetings, and a senior Iranian negotiator Hossen Mousavian said he was “optimistic” a deal would be struck.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used Friday prayers to deny that the country had plans to develop nuclear weapons. Khamenei insisted that nuclear weapons were forbidden under Islam, and he lashed out against “the gang” of re-elected US President George W. Bush. Addressing himself directly to Bush, Khamenei said: “No sir, we are not seeking to have nuclear weapons. Our nuclear weapon is this country, and the youth of its people.” Khamenei was delivering a rare sermon at Friday prayers three days after Bush — who put Iran in his “axis of evil” of dangerous states for allegedly seeking nuclear weapons — was re-elected.
As for the arms themselves, Khamenei said that to “manufacture, possess or use them, that all poses a problem. I have expressed my religious convictions about this, and everyone knows it.” The Foreign Ministry has previously stated that Khamenei has issued a fatwa (religious decree) that nuclear weapons are proscribed by Islam.
However, Khamenei did not mention crucial talks in Paris. The United States accuses Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons under cover of its civilian atomic energy program, a charge vehemently denied by Tehran. Europe’s three main powers are offering Iran nuclear technology, including access to nuclear fuel, increased trade and help with Tehran’s regional security concerns if it halts enrichment.
“I am optimistic because the two parties are determined to reach an accord satisfactory to both,” Mousavian told state television. “We have some tough negotiations ahead of us,” he said, adding that both sides are “serious about (reaching) a workable accord, which makes the work more complicated.”
