EU’s Solana, Iranian negotiator ready for ‘contacts’ on nuclear standoff

AFP: EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani are open to “further contacts” about Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, Solana said Monday.
BRUSSELS, Aug 21, 2006 (AFP) – EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani are open to “further contacts” about Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, Solana said Monday.

After speaking with Larijani by telephone, Solana said in a statement: “It has been a constructive conversation in which we reviewed different aspects of the Iranian nuclear programme.”

“We both agreed on our openness, under the right circumstances, to further contacts with the aim of re-establishing confidence in the purely civilian nature of the Iranian nuclear programme,” he added.

Tehran is due to respond on August 22 to a package of incentives offered by major powers in return for a freeze in enrichment, amid Western fears its nuclear programme is a cover for efforts to build atomic weapons.

The Security Council has also given Iran until August 31 to halt enrichment and reprocessing activities or face possible sanctions.

Despite the risk of sanctions, Iran insisted on Sunday that a nuclear freeze was not on the agenda and showed off its latest weaponry.