EU's Solana 'disappointed' at Iran nuclear talks
Posted: 01 December 2007 0048 hrs

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	Related News • EU, Iran to hold more nuclear talks next month: Tehran envoy

LONDON : The European Union's foreign policy chief said Friday he was "disappointed" after last-ditch talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiator failed to produce a breakthrough.

Javier Solana and Iranian envoy Saeed Jalili agreed to continue contact, following a five-hour meeting in London hours ahead of a deadline for the EU representative to report back to world powers on the issue.

The talks were seen as a last chance for Tehran before a possible new round of sanctions, though hopes of a breakthrough had been slim.

"I have to admit that after five hours of meetings I expected more, and therefore I am disappointed," Solana told reporters.

"We will be in telephonic contact probably before the end of the month of December and, if the circumstances permit, we will meet, and that will be agreed later on," he added.

Jalili described the talks as "good" but remained defiant at a press conference in the Iranian embassy later.

He insisted Tehran would not curb its nuclear plans under pressure from a new United Nations resolution, saying the resolutions passed so far had not stopped Iran from mastering uranium enrichment.

And he said it was "unacceptable" to attempt preventing Tehran from doing so, insisting it could under international treaty rules.

Western nations suspect Iran is using its nuclear programme to covertly develop a nuclear bomb. Despite Iranian denials, the United States and its allies are pressing for stronger UN sanctions against Tehran.

Solana's advisor was to brief the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany -- the six powers involved in the dossier -- whose representatives were scheduled to meet in Paris on Saturday.

Tehran had promised to bring "new ideas" to the table for the London talks.

"There was not enough new in order not to be disappointed," Solana's spokeswoman Cristina Gallach explained.

"It was not what he expected."

Regarding whether another meeting between the two would take place, she added: "At this point we cannot anticipate when that might happen."

Solana has been trying to create the conditions for broader negotiations in which Tehran would halt uranium enrichment in exchange for a package of political, economic and trade incentives.

Normally optimistic, the Spaniard has appeared increasingly frustrated in recent weeks, as time has slipped away for him to make his evaluation to the UN Security Council by the November 30 deadline.

Critics say Tehran has played off the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany, counting on China and Russia to block further sanctions demanded by the United States.

US critics say Iran is continuing a long-standing strategy of diplomatic brinksmanship, offering last-minute compromises to delay further sanctions while pressing ahead with its nuclear plans.

Washington stressed Friday it had hoped Iran would have bowed to pressure to freeze its sensitive nuclear work.

"That's what we urge them to tell Mr Solana," said White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

He sidestepped the question of whether the discussions were the last chance for Iran to avoid a new push for UN sanctions.

Tehran is already under two sets of UN sanctions, as well as unilateral US sanctions, for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment.

Even as the talks got underway Iran's former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani warned the West to avoid threats.

"If their objective from negotiations is adventurism, they must rest assured that their fate in Iran will be definitely worse than the one they ended up by invasions of other places," the prominent cleric said.

- AFP /ls