Chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani on Thursday said his government has no immediate plans to resume uranium enrichment, a step that has been widely discouraged by the international community.
”We have informed the Europeans about our dissatisfaction with the process of the nuclear talks and we have also received a message, which we are currently evaluating,” Rowhani told the Khabar news service.
He did not disclose the contents, but according to a Washington Post report, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany have warned Rowhani in a letter that resumption of any enrichment process will bring the negotiating process with the trio to an end.
French Minister of Foreign Affairs Michel Barnier on Thursday expressly warned Iran not to go ahead with the uranium enrichment, and noted that Tehran is aware of the consequences if it does.
Addressing French senators in Paris, Barnier said: ”We continue to hope that Iran will not make this gesture, which will have consequences which it well knows.”
Rowhani told Khabar that no date has yet been set for the partial resumption of the uranium enrichment in the Isfahan plant in central Iran.
In the latest Iranian proposal to the European Union trio of Britain, France and Germany, Iran had asked the resumption of activities at the uranium conversion plant in Isfahan, but promised not only to allow foreign inspections but also to keep the enrichment at a level adequate for producing fuel for Iranian plants.
”The talks can definitely not continue under the current circumstances, and need some revision,” Rowhani said.
One of the members of the Iranian negotiation team, Cyrus Nasseri, is currently in Vienna to discuss the latest developments with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, widely regarded as the likely successor to Mohammad Khatami as president, said on Wednesday that Iran should be patient in the nuclear talks and refrain from taking hasty decisions as long as negotiations with the EU trio are continuing. — Sapa-DPA