Region | Iran
EU foreign policy chief Solana hopes to meet Iran negotiator
Europe's negotiator with Iran and the French foreign minister both reacted guardedly on Monday to a new response from Tehran in the long crisis over its uranium enrichment program.
- Agencies
- Published: 22:09 July 7, 2008
Paris/Tehran: Europe's negotiator with Iran and the French foreign minister both reacted guardedly on Monday to a new response from Tehran in the long crisis over its uranium enrichment program.
Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, called the Iranian letter difficult and complicated and said it did not make him "completely optimistic." French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the letter offers "a little hope," but not a big one.
The Iranian letter, which Solana said he received late on Friday, responds to an international offer of incentives meant to persuade Iran to halt enrichment. World powers fear that Iran could use the uranium to build nuclear weapons.
Solana said he spoke at length by telephone on Friday with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, a conversation he described as "constructive in principle."
He said it was "not impossible" that he would meet Jalili but he could not confirm Iranian state media reports that they agreed to hold the latest in a series of talks in the second half of July.
"I hope that we can continue the dialogue [with Iran] in the coming weeks, before the end of the month if possible," said Solana.
"But I don't want to give you completely optimistic impressions. It is difficult." He said Iran seems to be displaying "a certain openness" to talks.
But he added: "It is a difficult, complicated letter that needs to be well analysed." The content of the Iranian response has not been made public.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country would not stop enriching uranium and rejected as "illegitimate" a demand by major powers that it do so, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"They offer to hold talks but at the same time they threaten us and say we should accept their illegitimate demand to halt [enrichment work]," Ahmadinejad said.
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