Brussels, 08/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - Germany, France and the United Kingdom, which is seeking on behalf of the EU to prevent the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from transmitting the Iranian dossier to the UN Security Council with a view to possibly imposing sanctions, managed after two days of talks on 5 and 6 November in Paris to reach a conditional agreement with Iran on its uranium enrichment nuclear programme. According to European diplomats, all that is needed for the agreement to be implemented is a go-ahead from the Iranian religious authorities. Europeans hope that Iran will accept suspension of its programme before the meeting of the IAEA Governing Council on 25 November this year.
Under the agreement, Iran will suspend all its enrichment and nuclear fuel reprocessing activities until a final agreement with the EU has been concluded on a series of incentive measures in the economic, technological and security fields in exchange for Teheran's abandonment of any nuclear activity for potential military use. According to a European diplomat, the timetable of suspension will be fixed according to the rate of negotiations on the general agreement.
IAEA Director General Mohammed El Baradei expressed cautious optimism the day after this provisional agreement. "Modalities remain to be confirmed", Mr El Baradei said, hoping, however, that the final agreement will include the definitive suspension of the Iranian uranium enrichment programme with a view to resuming normal diplomatic relations between Iran and the international community. "What the international community is asking of Iran, is that it suspend its nuclear activities as a confidence-building measure", he continued. "We are cautiously optimistic about the direction being taken", Mr El Baradei added, saying he hoped the announcement of a mutual agreement would be confirmed.
"Negotiations have been very difficult but we have found a preliminary agreement that integrates the points of view of all parties", Hossein Moussavian, Head of the Iranian Delegation in Paris, was pleased to point out. Iran's Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharrazi, stressed for his part that the talks had allowed "major progress" to be made and that it was now necessary to reach a "final agreement". In answer to questions put to him by an Arab press organisation, Mr Kharazzi stressed that "it is important for Iran to be recognised as a country with nuclear technology for peaceful use". Furthermore, Mr Moussavian said on Iranian television that Teheran had accepted voluntary suspension of the enrichment activities for a duration to be fixed by the Iranian authorities but that this period would not exceed six months.
According to European diplomats, the terms of the agreement are vague and do not give a precise duration of suspension, although it should last until the final agreement at least. Some non-European diplomats expressed concern about the fact that Iran could seek to take advantage of an agreement with the EU to ease international pressure and to secretly resume its enrichment activities as was the case after an agreement concluded with the EU in October 2003 (source our publication Atlantic News).