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EU Urges Iran to Sign Nuke Protocol
Arab News, Reuters
TEHRAN, 31 August 2003 — European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana urged Iran yesterday to sign up for tougher inspections of its nuclear program to maintain good relations with the 15-nation bloc.
Iran is under mounting pressure to sign the so-called additional protocol and allow short-notice inspections of its facilities, which the United States says Tehran is using to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge.
The EU has pursued a policy of dialogue with Iran, including holding several rounds of talks on a possible trade pact. But EU officials have said Iranian agreement to enhanced inspections is a key demand for trade talks to progress. “If you don’t sign the additional protocol, it will be bad for you and, second, bad for us,” Solana told a news conference in Tehran with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi.
Asked what Iran would get in return for signing the protocol, Solana said: “The only thing you have to expect is we continue working as friends.” Iran said this week it was ready to start talks with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to allow inspectors more access to its nuclear facilities, but Tehran also said it wanted some clarifications regarding its sovereignty, a reservation some analysts fear may cause delays.
The IAEA said in a report obtained by Reuters on Tuesday that Iran had improved cooperation, but there were still questions about weapons-grade uranium found at a site in Iran.
“If that process of enrichment has taken place, this has nothing do with a program for peaceful use of nuclear fuel,” Solana told reporters. Kharrazi repeated Iran’s stance that contaminated imported equipment was to blame for the enriched particles.
He also said it should be left to the IAEA, whose governors meet in early September to discuss the Iran report, to judge. In July, the EU issued its strongest warning so far to Iran about its nuclear program and human rights and said it would review relations in September in the light of Iran’s behavior.
Under the proposed trade pact, Iran would have greater access to the EU, a key Iranian trading partner.
But the EU has said it wants to see progress on the nuclear issue as well as human rights, Iran’s attitude to the Middle East peace process and cooperation in the fight against terrorism for progress. Solana said he raised all four issues.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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