BRUSSELS, (Reuters):
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is studying a call by Iran to resume negotiations over the country's nuclear programme but still insists it must suspend uranium processing, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said yesterday.
"We have looked at the letter very carefully. The Iranians are under an obligation to respond positively to the resolution of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency ... and we look to them to do that," Straw told reporters before a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
The Sept. 24 IAEA resolution required that Iran be reported to the U.N. Security Council for non-compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and urged it to re-establish "full and sustained suspension" of all activities linked to enrichment.
Iran moved to defuse tensions over its nuclear programme on Sunday, saying it had let U.N. inspectors visit a military complex and calling for a revival of EU talks on the issue.
However, the EU has demanded that Tehran resume a freeze on conversion of uranium ore into a gas that can be used to make highly-enriched nuclear fuel before negotiations can resume.
It was the first direct approach by Iran to ask for talks since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has adopted a tougher foreign policy stance than his reformist predecessor, took office in August.
The letter from chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani came days after Tehran recalled dozens of its ambassadors, including in those countries involved in the nuclear talks and among them envoys seen as holding relatively moderate foreign policy views.
NO SANCTIONS THREAT
EU foreign ministers were due to review the bloc's policy of engagement with Iran following Tehran's decision to restart part of its nuclear programme and Ahmadinejad's statement last month that Israel should be "wiped off the map".
A draft of conclusions to be agreed later on Monday by EU ministers contained no threat of sanctions on Tehran but said ties with Iran would be kept "under close review in light of progress on the nuclear file and other issues of concern".
The draft also scolded Tehran for what it called "serious violations" of human rights concerning political prisoners and juvenile executions.
It urged it to lift trade sanctions against Britain, imposed last month because of its opposition to nuclear activities, which Iran insists is for peaceful purposes.
Talks between the EU and Iran broke down in August when Tehran rejected an EU offer of economic and political incentives in return for scrapping sensitive nuclear fuel-making activities.
Iran broke U.N. seals at its uranium conversion plant in Isfahan and began processing uranium concentrate into a gas that can be enriched to make atomic bombs or nuclear reactor fuel.
Those actions led the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency to declare Iran in non-compliance with its international obligations and require that it be reported to the U.N. Security Council, where it could face sanctions.
Iran's has not yet been referred to the Council, but will be discussed again at an IAEA board meeting this month.
