A senior Iranian nuclear negotiator said yesterday that the European Union must accept Iran's uranium enrichment program, Iranian student news agency ISNA reported. "The Europeans have continuously demanded a halt to enrichment but this demand was not included in the agreement. The Europeans must accept Iran's uranium enrichment," said Sirus Naseri, referring to an initial deal reached with the EU last year. Britain, France and Germany have been trying to secure "objective guarantees" that Iran will not use its atomic energy ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons, and in exchange they are offering a package of trade, security, diplomatic and technology benefits to Tehran.
"The negotiations have progressed well in the political and economic committees, but in the nuclear committee there has been less progress," said Naseri, who led the Iranian team in talks last week in Geneva with EU negotiators Britain, France and Germany. He stressed that the negotiating period was not "indefinite" and if no "reasonable agreement" were reached, Iran would be prepared to break off the talks and "accept the consequences". |