EU and Iran in nuclear face-off

By Andrew Beatty

Date: 19/05/05

The EU's ongoing negotiations with Iran will enter a crucial phase next week as the two sides line up emergency talks over Iran's nuclear enrichment programme.

Seen as a major test of the EU's ability to tackle substantial foreign policy challenges, the negotiations, which have teetered on the brink of collapse for several days now, appear to hinge on two meetings next week.

Preliminary talks are to be held in Brussels on Monday (23 May), followed by a meeting on Tuesday between Iran's chief negotiator and the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, accompanied by the French, German and UK foreign ministers.

The EU will try to extract commitments from Iran that it will continue its suspension of uranium enrichment until after the Iranian presidential elections on 17 June.

Despite comments from presidential favourite Hashemi Rafsanjani of the need for "détente and the building of international trust", diplomats have long warned of a rise in tensions ahead of the polls.

This week European diplomats warned that the crisis might be more serious than electioneering and, even if overcome, could damage wider attempts to get Tehran to give up nuclear enrichment permanently.

"It think it is a bit more than the elections," said one senior diplomat. "This makes it even more difficult [for them] to be a bit more moderate."

Earlier, negotiations appeared close to collapse after Iranian officials threatened to restart the enrichment "momentarily" at the Isfahan nuclear facility.

The restart was later delayed, after the EU3 of France, Germany and the UK said any resumption would end negotiations.

"The consequences could only be negative for Iran," the EU3 said in a letter to the Iranian authorities, warning that the matter would go to the United Nations Security Council, where Iran would face the threat of sanctions. The US and others suspect that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear programme.

Iranian suspension of nuclear enrichment is seen in Berlin, London and Paris as a confidence-building measure aiding talks to reach a compromise encompassing the EU's demand that Iran provides objective guarantees that it is not developing nuclear weapons.

Iran says that under the international Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) it has the right to pursue a civilian nuclear programme. So far attempts to reconcile the two positions have come to nothing.

This week the EU proposed a motion at the NPT review conference currently taking place in New York, aimed at making it more difficult for countries like Iran to withdraw from the NPT.

European officials fear that it is currently too easy for Iran to follow North Korea out of the treaty and pursue a nuclear programme unchecked and uninspected.

"There is an expectation, some really hope the European Union will be a point of reference," Luxembourg's Ambassador to the UN Jean-Marc Hoscheit told European Voice.

The proposal would facilitate referral to the UN Security Council and urgent weapons inspections if any country withdrew its signature.

In the event of Iran withdrawing, the proposal would also oblige Russia to halt its nuclear co-operation with Iran and dismantle the Busher nuclear facility it helped to build.

But according to Hoscheit there is a long way to go.

"The conference began two and half weeks ago, it has not really started, we are still dealing with procedural questions."

The conference is scheduled to finish on 27 May.

Anticipation of what the author calls a 'crucial phase' in the EU's negotiations with Iran on the country's nuclear enrichment programme, in the week following 23 May 2005.