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EU tells Iran nuclear enrichment "unacceptable" |
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Wednesday, 26 January 2005 |
Reuters
 VIENNA - France, Britain and Germany have told Iran it would be unacceptable for Tehran to keep its uranium enrichment programme since it could be used to develop atomic weapons, according to a confidential EU document.
In November, Tehran temporarily froze its enrichment programme, a process of purifying uranium for use as fuel in nuclear power plants or weapons. However, Iran insists that atomic fuel production is a sovereign right it will not abandon.
"EU3/EU made clear that the outlined approach was unacceptable," said a summary of this month's EU-Iran talks seen by Reuters. "Iran has to recognise that the fuel cycle programme is the core of the problem."
The latest round of talks between Iran and the European Union's "big three" -- the EU3 -- took place earlier this month in Geneva, Switzerland.
The tough-sounding tone will likely please Washington, which believes Iran has a covert atomic weapons programme. Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.
The EU is using the talks to try to persuade Tehran to permanently give up sensitive nuclear processes in exchange for political and economic incentives.
Iran also threatened to resume enrichment if the talks showed no progress and demanded that the extent of the freeze be revisited, the document showed. Iran wants to operate some 20 enrichment centrifuges for research purposes and to continue "converting" uranium to prepare it for the enrichment process.
But the EU rejected this demand. |
