Brussels, 04/08/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 4 August, the EU High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana and the Iranian negotiator on the nuclear question, Said Jalili, held a telephone conversation. No information about this conversation filtered out and Mr Solana has preferred to refer the matter to the Group of Six.
This discussion followed the meeting on 19 July in Geneva, where five members of the Security Council (China, US, France, the United Kingdom and Russia) and Germany proposed a revised offer on economic and political cooperation to Tehran in exchange for Iran suspending its nuclear enrichment activities. Negotiations on these measures could take place if Tehran responds favourable to the double-freeze offer made by the Six to facilitate the decision. Iran would therefore make a commitment to not setting up new centrifugal plants for enrichment and the international community would at the same time refrain from imposing new sanctions.
Iran is continuing to blow hot and cold. Although the Iranian foreign affairs minister indicated before his conversation with Mr Solana that Iran wanted to, “pursue negotiations with a positive approach towards creating a constructive atmosphere”, Iranian president, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, reaffirmed in a weekend meeting in Tehran with his Syrian counterpart, Bachar al-Assad, that, “the Iranian nation will not give up an inch of its nuclear rights”. (A.B./trans/rh)