Brussels, 14/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - In line with the hopes of the Europeans, the State Department decided last Friday to back the negotiations of the EU3 (Germany, France and the United Kingdom) on behalf of the EU with concrete gestures, to get Iran to leave off definitively from enriching uranium and producing nuclear weapons. In a letter to the Luxembourg Presidency, the EU3 foreign ministers and Javier Solana, on the other hand, spoke of their determination to ensure that Iran does not become a nuclear power, and reaffirmed their commitment to hand the matter over to the Security Council if Teheran does not cooperate with the inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Teheran reacted coolly to the American offer and the Europeans' resolve.
Less than three weeks after President Bush's visit to Brussels, where the Heads of State and Government of the 25 expressly called for his support to the diplomatic solution negotiated by the EU3 (EUROPE of 24 February, p.4), the State Department announced “practical measures” on Friday and proposed limited economic incentives for Teheran's support of the Europeans' efforts to obtain “objective guarantees” from Iran that it will not produce any nuclear weapons. Condoleezza Rice stated that President Bush has decided to withdraw the US's opposition of twenty years' standing to Iran's candidacy for WTO accession. Washington also said that it was prepared to “look on a case-by-case basis” at Iranian requests for spare parts for civil aviation, which would be a slight change in the details of the American quasi-total embargo on Iran since 1979. “We share the desire of European governments to ensure that Iran is sticking to its obligations [to the NPT] by peaceful and diplomatic means”, said Ms Rice. These practical measures are, therefore, a sea change in Washington's attitude, which has always refused to reward Teheran in any way as an incentive to observe the NPT.
In their joint letter to Jean-Claude Juncker, Joschka Fischer, Michel Barnier, Jack Straw and Javier Solana toughened their tone and reaffirmed the EU's determination that Iran should not possess nuclear weapons. “We are united in our determination that Iran will not acquire nuclear weapons capacity”, they said, adding: “We feel it is very important for Iran to agree to maintain the suspension of its enrichment activities whilst long-term solutions are being negotiated [in return for the suspension of its uranium enrichment activities, the EU is offering Teheran nuclear, technological and trade cooperation and political and security dialogue] and for it to fulfil its international obligations including full cooperation with the IAEA”. “If Iran comes into line and this is confirmed by the IAEA, then the situation can be resolved by the Council of Governors of the IAEA”, they state, but warn that they will have “no choice but to support moves to bring the Iranian nuclear programme to the UN Security Council if, despite our efforts, Iran does not come into line”.
The American offer and Europe's steadfastness got a cool reaction from Teheran, which repeated its determination to continue with its civil nuclear programme. “No threats, pressure or incentives will make us give up”, said the spokesperson to the minister for foreign affairs, Hamid Reza Assefi, who rejected Washington's incentives. According to Mr Assefi, Europeans and Iranians still have “a small difference of opinion” on the “objectives guarantees” called for by the EU3. “There has been no mention in our discussions of a permanent suspension of our uranium enrichment”, he said, adding: “Europeans know that this is an absurd thing to ask for”. The Iranian President, Mohammad Khatami, said last Saturday that his country was “prepared to collaborate with the international community” but that it would “not give up its right to peaceful and legal nuclear energy”. “The suspension of our enrichment activities since last November was a moral act. We agreed voluntarily and temporarily to suspend our uranium enrichment activities, although there is nothing to oblige us to do this”, he said. After the fourth session of talks in Geneva behind closed doors at expert level (see EUROPE of 10 March, p.5), Europeans and Iranians decided to meet again for a further session by the end of March, in a European capital. According to the Council of the EU, the much-awaited meeting of the steering committee for negotiations on the Iranian dossier, to bring together the heads of diplomacy of the EU3 and Mr Solana, together with the Iranian negotiator in chief, Hassan Rohani, to see what progress has been made in talks, should take place before a new session of negotiations at expert level, probably on 23 March.