More EU-Iran talks next month: Solana
Monday, 25 June 2007
LISBON, June 24 (AFP): EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana described talks here Saturday with Iran's nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani as "very constructive," adding that they would meet again next month.
The talks were aimed at easing an international crisis over Tehran's refusal to adhere to a UN Security Council demand to suspend its uranium enrichment programme.
"We have had a very constructive meeting, and we will meet again in three weeks' time," Solana told reporters after the four-hour meeting at the Portuguese foreign ministry headquarters.
"We will continue on this path," added Solana. He did not say where the next meeting would be held.
Larijani said he had a "good conversation" with Solana at a time when major powers were considering tightening sanctions against Iran in a new UN resolution.
"The talks helped us to make progress toward negotiations and to clarify our positions," he said, adding: "I think it is possible to lay the ground for negotiations."
The Lisbon meeting was the second between Solana and Larijani in less than a month.
In talks with Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Friday Larijani had agreed to define within two months a working plan with the UN atomic agency to resolve outstanding issues over his country's nuclear programme.
Solana said Saturday he welcomed Iran's cooperation with the Vienna- based IAEA.
ElBaradei told reporters after his talks with Larijani in Vienna that the main problem for the UN agency was still the difficulty of being able to carry out comprehensive inspections in Iran.
The oil-rich Islamic republic, which has been slapped with two sets of UN Security Council sanctions, insists it only wants to make nuclear fuel to meet its growing energy demands.
But the West fears Iran's civilian nuclear programme is aimed at producing nuclear weapons.
The talks at the Portuguese foreign ministry headquarters coincided with reports that two permanent UN Security Council members, Britain and the United States, were planning to put forward proposals to strengthen existing sanctions if the Lisbon talks make no progress.
The new measures would include travel bans, the freezing of bank accounts and inspections of Iranian cargo vessels and planes.
The talks were aimed at easing an international crisis over Tehran's refusal to adhere to a UN Security Council demand to suspend its uranium enrichment programme.
"We have had a very constructive meeting, and we will meet again in three weeks' time," Solana told reporters after the four-hour meeting at the Portuguese foreign ministry headquarters.
"We will continue on this path," added Solana. He did not say where the next meeting would be held.
Larijani said he had a "good conversation" with Solana at a time when major powers were considering tightening sanctions against Iran in a new UN resolution.
"The talks helped us to make progress toward negotiations and to clarify our positions," he said, adding: "I think it is possible to lay the ground for negotiations."
The Lisbon meeting was the second between Solana and Larijani in less than a month.
In talks with Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Friday Larijani had agreed to define within two months a working plan with the UN atomic agency to resolve outstanding issues over his country's nuclear programme.
Solana said Saturday he welcomed Iran's cooperation with the Vienna- based IAEA.
ElBaradei told reporters after his talks with Larijani in Vienna that the main problem for the UN agency was still the difficulty of being able to carry out comprehensive inspections in Iran.
The oil-rich Islamic republic, which has been slapped with two sets of UN Security Council sanctions, insists it only wants to make nuclear fuel to meet its growing energy demands.
But the West fears Iran's civilian nuclear programme is aimed at producing nuclear weapons.
The talks at the Portuguese foreign ministry headquarters coincided with reports that two permanent UN Security Council members, Britain and the United States, were planning to put forward proposals to strengthen existing sanctions if the Lisbon talks make no progress.
The new measures would include travel bans, the freezing of bank accounts and inspections of Iranian cargo vessels and planes.