Solana: Hopes to meet with Iranian negotiator by end of month

International Herald Tribune

EU foreign policey chief Solana hoping to meet with Iranian negotiator by end of month

PARIS: Europe's negotiator with Iran, the French foreign minister and the U.S. State Department all reacted guardedly 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 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 analyzed."

The content of the Iranian response has not been made public.

A positive response could open the way to renewed negotiations that might help cool recent sharp exchanges between officials on both sides. In recent weeks the U.S. and Iran have traded threats and warnings over possible American or Israeli military action.

Acting on behalf of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, Solana offered the modified package of economic incentives to Iran during his June visit to the country.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States and its partners were still weighing apparently contradictory responses from Iran to the offer.

"Until there is ... the Iranians' final and conclusive response to this particular offer, we will hold off on talking about it piecemeal," he said.

He added that senior diplomats from the six nations involved in the Iran efforts would hold a conference call on Monday to discuss "the current state of play, what we understand to have heard from the Iranians and what the Iranians would like to do by way of further communication with Mr. Solana."

Iran has repeatedly insisted it will not give up enrichment, but it had said the incentives package had some "common ground" with Tehran's own proposals for a resolution to the standoff. Oil-rich Iran insists its enrichment work is intended to produce fuel for nuclear reactors that would generate electricity.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Malaysian media during a visit to Kuala Lumpur on Monday that all nations should be able to use nuclear energy without any restrictions, stressing that it would provide them with a cheap alternative to crude oil.

Ahmadinejad, quoted by Malaysia's national news agency, Bernama, criticized Western powers that oppose Iran's quest for nuclear capabilities.

"They are expecting the day will come when our crude oil and gas will be finished. When that happens, they hope to sell these commodities to us at very high prices," Bernama quoted him as saying.

Separately, EU nations also approved new sanctions against Iran in June, imposing additional financial and travel restrictions on a list of Iranian companies and experts, including the country's largest bank.

The six nations — the U.S., China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany — first offered a package of economic, technological and political incentives to Tehran nearly two years ago on condition that it suspend enrichment.

The standoff has led to increasingly tense exchanges about the possibility of a military strike by Israel or the U.S. An Israeli military exercise last month was seen as a warning to Iran.