UK plays down EU-Iran nuclear meeting in London
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, April 29, IRNA
Iran-EU Nuclear Talks
The British government played down hopes of any major breakthrough at Friday's steering committee meeting, which is reviewing the ongoing EU talks to reach long-term arrangements on Iran's nuclear programme.
The Foreign Office described the meeting in London between official from the so-called EU3 of France, German and the UK and Iran, as "informal." It is "more of a stocking taking exercise basically," a spokesman told IRNA.
The spokesman said that the steering committee meeting, which meets every three months to discuss progress made in working group negotiations held in Geneva, was "not brought forward."
"It was just an intermediate meeting with the next formal one planned for June," he said, adding that it would not disrupt the three-monthly pattern, with the last one held in Paris in March.
The meeting on Friday evening, which was understood to have been agreed in Paris six weeks ago at Iran's request, was shrouded in secrecy, with the press being kept away.
The Foreign Office spokesman also played down the warning issued by Iran's National Security Council Secretary Hassan Rowhani last week in an interview with the Financial Times that negotiations could end if there was no "tangible progress" at the London meeting.
"You can expect the Iranians to say that. There's always an attempt by the Iranian side to put pressure on to see that there is a result," he said.
The official said that he was "not sure" what the EU response would be to Iranian proposals put on the table to offer assurances about its nuclear programme.
He said that he did not know but expected the proposals to be "still on the table and still talk about it" after the meeting. "It is not about setting any deadline or anything like that," he insisted.
The EU has been pressing for a complete suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment program. "The key point is objective guarantees.
What we need is an objective guarantee that gives the same degree of surety," the Foreign Office spokesman said.
He said that it was "difficult to say" whether Iran's proposals matched this on the technical side and was why officials in working groups in Geneva had been discussing. "From our point of view we keep on talking and keep on trying to work this out," he said.
In his interview with the Financial Times last Week, Rowhani called on Britain, France and Germany to stand up to US pressure to prevent a collapse in the negotiations, warning that it would represent a "great failure for Europe."
The spokesman confirmed that the EU had been discussing Iran's proposals with the US, saying "we talk to the Americans all the time" about the issue.
But he denied there were differences with Washington, saying the US were seeking the same assurances as far as he was aware. "You will have to ask the Americans but that's my reading of it. That's what I understand," he said.
"The importance is an outcome and the outcome is objective guarantees that assures us, the Americans and everybody else that Iran is not about to spring a nuclear weapon on the world," the Foreign Office diplomat said.
As part of the Paris agreement to negotiate a long-term arrangement on Iran's nuclear programme, signed last November, the EU committed itself to "equally provide firm guarantees on nuclear, technological and economic cooperation and firm commitments on security issues."
The spokesman said that it was "possible something may come out" of the London meeting on the cooperation, but doubted if it would be anything specific.
HC/1771
::IRNA No.028 29/04/2005 18:24 --End
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