TEHRAN, 6 June 2005 — A senior Iranian official said yesterday that Tehran has only conditionally agreed to EU demands it maintain a suspension of sensitive nuclear activities until the end of July, the IRNA news agency reported.
“Iran has conditionally agreed to the EU offer, and Europe has until the end of July to provide a complete proposal with details,” Supreme National Security Council official Ali Agha Mohammadi was quoted as saying.
He said the conditions were that three joint working groups and a steering committee meet before the end of July and “that there is an exchange between the European foreign ministers and the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (Hassan Rohani)”. Tehran has continued to complain the Europeans have been seeking to drag out the talks, and therefore Iran’s nuclear suspension. But the demand for talks to be brought forward may prove a headache for Eurocrats planning their summer holidays.
Mohammadi said the demands were aimed at ensuring that any European proposal is in line with the “agreed aims” of a nuclear suspension agreement signed in Paris between Iran and Britain, France and Germany last November. “The two sides must have offers in line with the main aims of the Paris agreement, which is objective guarantees on our part and firm guarantees from the European side,” Mohammadi said.
