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EU Official Says No Change To EU's Iran Policy

27 June 2005 (RFE/RL) -- European Union High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana today said that he sees no reason to immediately change the EU's policies regarding Iran.

Solana's remarks come after Mahmud Ahmadinejad -- seen by many as being a hard-liner -- won a weekend presidential runoff election.

Solana says he intends to wait and see what Iran's new leadership does before making any changes to previous agreements with Tehran. He added that nuclear talks with Iran will continue.

European Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin in Brussels today outlined the future priorities in dealings with Iran. "There have throughout been four major priorities: there is the WMD [weapons of mass destruction] issue, human rights, terrorism, the situation in the Middle East. Those remain our priorities in our dealings with Iran and that isn't changed by this change of personnel," she said.

Ahmadinejad has pledged to form a government of moderation and tolerance, but U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says Ahmadinejad is "no friend of democracy."

The former Tehran mayor, who is seen as a hard-line religious conservative, also vows to push forward with Iran's nuclear program, which he said is peaceful, and says Iran had no need for ties with the United States.

(Reuters/AP/AFP)

Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org