Iran Says Trade Talks With EU

An Iranian official on Sunday described last week’s trade talks with the European Union as “very positive,” Reuters reported (see GSN, Jan. 14).

“Europe had some proposals which we studied and offered them our suggestions. We agreed to continue the talks in March in Tehran,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi.

Asefi also said Iran was confident that International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors who visited the Parchin military complex last week would find no evidence of illicit nuclear activity.

“We know what the result will be because we know we haven’t done anything illegal. When the agency’s assessment comes, it will be clear,” he said (Parisa Hafezi, Reuters, Jan. 16).

Iranian nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian said Saturday that Tehran would avoid setting a deadline for talks with the European Union on its nuclear program and that Iran could maintain a freeze on uranium enrichment activities until at least midyear, Agence France-Presse reported.

“We have reached an agreement with the Europeans not to threaten each other with a deadline,” Mousavian told the hard-line Kayhan newspaper. Evidence of “objective, serious and fundamental progress” in the nuclear talks could lead Iran to extend negotiations and the nuclear suspension for another three months, he said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Jan. 15).

Elsewhere, German authorities Wednesday seized nuclear-related equipment bound for Iran at an unidentified company in northern Germany, the Associated Press reported.

Four special low-voltage motors were believed to be headed to the Bushehr nuclear reactor in Iran, according to AP.

Nuclear-related materials require a German export permit before being shipped to Iran, said Manfred Knothe, a spokesman for prosecutors in Hanover. In this case, “export permission would hardly have been given,” he said.

The German company is being investigated for possibly export law violations, Knothe said (Associated Press, Jan. 14).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.