Iran Rules Out Enrichment Halt in EU Talks

Iran said yesterday that it would not discuss halting its uranium enrichment program in a meeting scheduled for Friday between top Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 27).

“Suspension (of uranium enrichment) is a step backward and is not on the agenda of the talks,” government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said in a weekly briefing for reporters.

Solana is expected to report to the U.N. Security Council by the end of the month on progress in talks to suspend Iran’s uranium enrichment efforts, which could yield material for a nuclear bomb.

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is intended only for power production, but has turned down offers by Solana of political and economic incentives in exchange for suspending its enrichment work (Agence France-Presse I/Google News, Nov. 27).

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called today for the publication of details on classified information that Tehran officials accused former Iranian nuclear negotiator Hossein Moussavian of providing to Western powers.

Moussavian was exonerated Monday from government charges of engaging in espionage and holding classified information after the accusations provoked a storm of controversy among Ahmadinejad’s domestic rivals.

“The full content of the negotiation of this ex-member of the nuclear negotiating team should be published,” Iranian state media quoted Ahmadinejad as saying following a cabinet meeting.

“It is very appropriate that the intelligence content he has given to the Westerners should be published, so others are informed of it,” he said (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Nov. 28).

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