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New Talks with Iran Tentatively Scheduled for December
Diplomats said yesterday that representatives from France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Russia are considering a meeting with Iranian officials in an attempt to convince Tehran to conduct uranium enrichment to Russia, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Nov. 22). Officials said that the talks would occur only if Iran did nothing before that date to raise international worries that it is pursuing nuclear weapons (George Jahn, Associated Press, Nov. 22). A senior U.S. official said yesterday the United States hopes that involving Russia and other nations in the negotiations would push Iran away from its “dangerous course,” Agence France-Presse reported. “It is our hope that the engagement of other countries like Russia, like China, will make it more likely that the leadership in Iran listens to the international community, shifts off the dangerous course it's on,” said Gregory Schulte, U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Schulte also said that talks to date have not proven effective in stopping Iran’s nuclear activities. “I have to say that progress has been disappointing,” he said. The recent revelation that Iran has documents on nuclear weapon production raised “a whole series of questions,” he added (see GSN, Nov. 18; Agence France-Presse I/SpaceWar.com, Nov. 22). While dismissing the possibility of military action against Tehran, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday that a nuclear-armed Iran would endanger global stability, the Associated Press reported. “If Iran was to develop nuclear weapons capability then I think it would pose a very serious threat to world stability and peace,” he said. “There are three issues that worry people: there is their nuclear weapons capability and their refusal to cooperate properly with the atomic energy authority; there is their support of terrorism around the Middle East; and there is their meddling in Iraq,” Blair said. “On each of those three issues we have real genuine cause for concern.” “Now no one is talking military action or any of the rest of it,” he added. “It may well be that the change in Iran comes from within ultimately” (Associated Press, Nov. 22). Meanwhile, a senior Russian official said yesterday that the Bushehr nuclear plant in Iran is not prepared to accept shipments of nuclear fuel, Agence France-Presse reported. First deliveries of fuel to the Russian-built facility were expected to occur in late 2005 or early 2006, Moscow had said. However, “the Bushehr plant is not at present technically ready to receive nuclear fuel,” said Alexander Shmygin, a high-level official with the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency. He added that it would be “very difficult” to store the fuel in the Gulf region until the plant was online. “We will ensure the fuel remains secure in a Russian facility,” Shmygin said (Agence France-Presse II, Nov. 22).
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