Iran Set to Negotiate Over N. Program

Author: 
Nasser Karimi, Associated Press
Publication Date: 
Mon, 2008-03-10 03:00

TEHRAN, 10 March 2008 — Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said yesterday that Tehran is ready to negotiate with Europe over its nuclear program if there were practical results.

The foreign minister’s comments made at a conference on Iran’s nuclear activities came just days after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared to rule out any nuclear negotiations with Europe saying the issue would only be discussed with the UN atomic watchdog agency.

“We have always supported negotiations that are purposeful, meaningful and effective,” said Mottaki when he was asked if Iran was ready to negotiate with Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy affairs chief. Mottaki said negotiations could be in any field, including the West’s wrongdoings such as “expansionism, invasion and occupation.”

At the prodding of the US and its European allies, the UN Security Council passed a third round of sanctions on Iran on Monday ordering assets to be frozen of additional Iranian officials and companies with links to the country’s nuclear and missile program and, for the first time, banned trade with Iran in some goods that have both civilian and military use.

The US, Russia, China, Britain and France, along with Germany, however, also promised an improved package of incentives for Iran to restart negotiations with Solana if uranium enrichment is suspended. Mottaki said that the new round of sanctions lacked “technical and legal,” justification and would discredit the Security Council.

An IAEA report in February said that while Iran had cooperated in clearing up many of the past questions over its nuclear program, it had not responded properly to intelligence forwarded by the US and its allies purportedly showing nuclear weapons technology.

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