Iran Pledges to Offer New Proposals in Nuclear Talks With Europe

The New York Times:

August 25, 2005

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TEHRAN, Aug. 24 (AP) - Iran will soon offer new proposals for negotiations with Europe over its nuclear program, its president said Wednesday. The Bush administration responded that the European diplomatic process "still has legs."

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran said that he had instructed the Supreme National Security Council to write new proposals on Iran's uranium enrichment program.

"Iran will soon offer proposals about the cycle of nuclear fuel for peaceful use of nuclear energy," he said on state-run television.

"We want to continue talks with all," he said. "We will continue dialogue." But he did not say if that included the United States. Iran has said it does not see any role for the United States as long as it remains hostile toward Iran.

The comments by Mr. Ahmadinejad suggest that he wants to begin a new dialogue in the hope of persuading Europe to recognize Iran's right to enrich uranium. Europe has been urging Iran to give up its uranium enrichment program in return for economic incentives, a proposal Iran has rejected.

Enrichment is one of the final stages in the nuclear fuel process. It can produce either the fuel needed for a power reactor or material used in making a nuclear bomb. Iran says its program is peaceful, aiming only to produce electricity. The United States accuses Iran of secretly pursuing a weapons program.

Iran suspended enrichment activities and other parts of its nuclear program last year as a gesture in negotiations. But this month, Iran ended the freeze on a preliminary part of the nuclear cycle, uranium reprocessing.

Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy of France said Wednesday that the European Union still believed that negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program were possible, even though the negotiation group called off a meeting scheduled for Aug. 31 in response to the resumption of reprocessing.

"We think it is still possible to talk to them," Mr. Douste-Blazy said on France Inter radio. "We want to write a new page in relations between the European Union and Iran."

In Washington, the State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said the European diplomatic process "still has legs."

"We would encourage the Iranian government to engage with the E.U. 3 negotiators in a serious and constructive way," Mr. McCormack said Wednesday, referring to France, Germany and Britain, the three European countries involved in the talks.

"And we would encourage them to take an offer that is on the table. I think that the E.U. 3 offer is comprehensive, it's constructive and it addresses the issue."

Iran claimed victory on Tuesday after tests by the United Nations nuclear agency concluded that traces of highly enriched uranium found on centrifuge parts at two sites in Iran were from imported equipment - rather than any enrichment activities by Iran.

The findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency support Iran's contention that the material entered the country with centrifuge parts provided by Pakistan.

The discovery of the traces was cited by the United States as evidence Iran had been experimenting with producing highly enriched uranium, which is used only in nuclear weapons.