Brussels, 11/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - A “constructive” two-day meeting at the weekend allowed the EU High Representative Javier Solana and the Iran's chief negotiator on the nuclear issue to “clarify some of the misunderstandings”. “We have made progress and want to continue in that line,” Mr Solana said on Sunday. A European diplomat quoted by AFP said that Mr Larijani proposed a two-month suspension in Iranian uranium enrichment activities without giving any information on when this would begin. The Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) immediately issued a denial of any such proposal. Mr Solana and Mr Larijani will meet again this week, however, before the EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Friday. They could possibly meet “on Wednesday or Thursday on Mr Solana's return from Kinshasa”, his cabinet said on Monday.
Additionally, with the United States wanting discussions on sanctions against Iran to be opened this week in the UN, Mr Solana, mandated by the EU3 and the Security Council, re-stated in Copenhagen on Friday that the Security Council would not envisage sanctions on the nuclear issue as long as discussions with the Iranians were on-going. Before a meeting of the IAEA Governing Council on Monday, the Director General of the Agency Mohammed El Baradei told press that he continued to believe that negotiation was the best way towards a lasting solution, but that Iran had to cooperate with the Agency on unresolved issues. He said he was encouraged that dialogue was continuing between Mr Solana and Mr Larijani and he hoped that when they met again, they would be able to reach an agreement to return to the negotiating table.