Reuters: Iran expressed hope on Sunday that talks with a senior EU official next week could lead to a solution to its row with the West, but made clear it would not halt a nuclear fuel enrichment program, which the West fears could produce an atomic bomb. TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran expressed hope on Sunday that talks with a senior EU official next week could lead to a solution to its row with the West, but made clear it would not halt a nuclear fuel enrichment program, which the West fears could produce an atomic bomb.
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and European Union foreign police chief Javier Solana are due to hold talks on Wednesday in their first such meeting since the United Nations last month slapped new sanctions on Iran over its atom activities.
Major powers suspect Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons and are demanding a suspension of its uranium enrichment, a process to make fuel for power plants or, if enriched to a much higher degree, provide material for nuclear bombs.
Iran says it wants to generate nuclear electricity to allow it to export more of its valuable oil and gas.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said no definite decision had yet been taken on where Solana and Larijani would meet on April 25. They have talked several times on the phone in recent weeks.
“We hope (the negotiations) would follow a serious goal … and find the main basis for a solution to the issue,” he told a regular briefing.
“What is more important is safeguarding and providing the right of the Iranian nation … for obtaining atomic technology,” he added. “You should delete (the phrase) ‘suspension of enrichment’ from Iran’s atomic literature.”
