Iran expects 'new ideas' from EU to end impasse

Ankara, Apr 25: Iran's nuclear negotiator said he expected theEuropean Union to float ''new ideas'' at talks today over Tehran'srefusal to suspend uranium enrichment.

Hopes for a breakthrough at the talks between Iran's Ali Larijaniand EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana were dampened in the run-upby a renewed Iranian vow not to stop enrichment despite increasingsanctions pressure.

Arriving for the talks in Turkey's capital, Larijani said''irrational'' Western preconditions -- an allusion to calls for a haltto all Iranian uranium enrichment activity -- had thwarted diplomacy inthe quest for a peaceful solution.

''That's why there are other, new ideas. We are supposed to beintroduced (to them). That's why we are here,'' he told reportersbefore his first face-to-face session with Solana in two months. He didnot elaborate.

The United States and key allies suspect Iran of harbouring asecret nuclear arms programme. Tehran says its enrichment work is onlyfor electricity production and is vital for its economy.

After a string of futile EU-Iran contacts stretching back almost ayear, there have been diplomatic hints the two sides could entertain aface-saving compromise based on a partial or temporary suspension ofIran's programme.

They surfaced again this week, prompting Washington to deny thatWestern powers were edging away from the U.N. Security Councilresolution they engineered calling for a complete moratorium as aprecondition for negotiations on a solution.

An EU diplomat described the fresh media report of Western preparedness to accept a limited suspension as ''ridiculous''.

Solana's aides said he would encourage Larijani at the talks, dueto begin at 1930 IST, to accept a ''double suspension'' -- a halt toall enrichment-related activity in exchange for a shelving of action toimplement Security Council sanctions.

That is the Council's formula for jump-starting negotiations on trade incentives offered to Iran not to pursue enrichment.

Enrichment Bunker

While Iran has offered to explore how toguarantee no military diversion of nuclear materials, it has ruled outshutting down its expanding enrichment effort in a vast bunker shieldedby anti-aircraft guns against a feared US attack.

Tehran says the programme is irreversible and the West should nowaccept it as a member of the nuclear club. A second set of UN sanctionswere imposed on Iran last month.

However, Iran's former ambassador to France, Sadeq Kharrazi, whowas a member of Iran's former nuclear negotiating team and retainsinsight on current diplomacy, told Reuters: ''The situation has changedand needs fresh initiatives. Larijani is prepared to reach anunderstanding over Iran's nuclear issue.'' Solana voiced hope forIranian ''openness'' to finding common ground for serious negotiationsto resolve the standoff.

EU officials said Solana's Ankara trip was worthwhile tore-explore any leeway for negotiations and stressed the EU's ''dualtrack'' strategy of balancing the sticks of sanctions with the carrotof trade benefits via negotiations.

Tehran said this month it had launched more than 1,300 centrifugesand begun feeding them with uranium for enrichment, but diplomats saidit was ''test-scale'' and nowhere near the ''industrial-scale''capacity Tehran proclaimed on April 9.

Diplomats familiar with inspections by the UN watchdogInternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), say Tehran will not mastermajor enrichment technology for several years at least.

''If the (West) really wants to block progress (towards an Iranianbomb), it is easy enough to do -- just start negotiating withoutpreconditions, and let Iran save face and keep a small enrichmentprogramme, with the IAEA monitoring,'' one said.

Reuters

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