Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Wednesday Iran will ”not agree to any conditions whatsoever” for the resumption of talks with the European Union on its controversial nuclear programme.
As delegations from both sides met in Vienna to sound out the possibility of resuming negotations, Mottaki, speaking in Tehran, said Iran is not interested in ”talks about talks” but in discussing how to keep nuclear technology within the country.
Iran will insist on its right to enrich uranium, he said.
The exploratory talks, led on the EU side by Germany, France and Britain, halted at midday after about three hours and were due to resume again in the afternoon.
”It is too early to talk about results,” the Iranian representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Mohammed Akhondzadeh, said.
Both sides ”openly” stated their positions and the atmosphere in which the talks were held was ”good”, Akhondzadeh added.
Before the talks, the Iranian foreign minister said Iran is also keen to discuss the construction of centrifuge machines, necessary for uranium enrichment.
Mottaki also said that if the EU team is ”serious”, the talks could continue at ministerial level in the new year.
Earlier talks between the EU and Tehran about Iran’s nuclear programme broke off in August.
Reports said diplomats from Germany, France and Britain wanted to sound out whether the Tehran government was willing to refrain from enriching uranium inside Iran.
The West wants to prevent Iran producing highly enriched uranium, which could be used for the manufacture of atomic bombs. In return, the Europeans are said to have offered Tehran a comprehensive agreement on cooperation.
In advance of the new talks, sources dampened all-too great hopes of progress. The Iranian government had previously said it would propose uranium enrichment taking place in Iran itself, but with international participation.
So far, this proposal has not been acceptable to Europe and the United States. — Sapa-DPA