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EU-Iran nuclear negotiations extremely sensitive, says UK

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Nov 4, IRNA - Britain said Thursday that trust was at the 
heart of the EU`s continuing series of talks with Iran over nuclear 
programme. 
"We are in an incredibly delicate, sensitive set of negotiations. 
What we want is what we always wanted for Iran to cease nuclear 
activities," a Foreign Office spokesman in London told IRNA. 
He said, "This was because it is the only way we believe they will
be able to build enough international confidence in the fact that they
are not pursuing a nuclear weapons programme." 
Speaking on BBC radio Thursday, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw 
described the negotiations as "difficult." 
He said the international community was committed to resolving the
dispute "constructively" and insisted that the US had been part of the
"consensus." 
The political director of Britain, France and Germany are holding 
their third round of talks with Iran in Paris on Friday. 
The Guardian newspaper claimed that the US did not expect the 
negotiations to succeed and that this view was supported by the UK. 
But this was denied by the British Foreign Office. 
"We can`t go into this at all being pessimistic. It is not black 
and white like that," the spokesman said. 
"Real pessimism is Iran is going to get a nuclear weapon and use 
it. This is what we ultimately do not want to happen. What we do want 
is to be able to work together with Iran to prevent them from getting 
a nuclear weapons," he said. 
The Foreign Office spokesman suggested that trust was at the heart
of the negotiations being held by the so-called EU3 on behalf of G8 
industrialised countries. 
The official said that the main goal was for Iran not to develop 
a nuclear weapon and one of the ways to achieve this was for Iran to 
have a "sufficiently trustworthy relationship with the international 
community." 
"If it comes down to an indefinite suspension of Iran`s nuclear 
activities as the only way Iran can show it will not pursue a nuclear 
weapon then so be it," he said. 
He said that suspension of uranium enrichment was not an IAEA 
demand but an international political demand. 
Iran signed protocol to Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in December
2003 which grants free monitoring of all nuclear sites by the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 
The Europeans offered to supply Iran with fuel for the power 
plants, but, Iran does not see import of fuel economical when it has 
established full fuel cycle under the IAEA safeguards. 
HC/1416