Iran says near unity with EU in some nuclear areas
By Mark Heinrich and Zerin Elci
ANKARA (Reuters) - Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said on Thursday Iran and the EU were nearing "a united view" in some areas of their talks to break an international impasse over Tehran's nuclear fuel programme.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the talks had been constructive and conducted in a good atmosphere, though no "great breakthrough" was on the cards now.
Larijani and Solana spoke at a news conference in Turkey's capital before resuming discussions, which ended in the early afternoon. They are to reconvene in two weeks' time.
The United States and other Western powers suspect Iran has a secret nuclear arms programme, and U.N. sanctions have been imposed on Tehran. Iran says its drive to produce uranium fuel is for electricity only and is vital to economic development.
"In some areas we are approaching a united view. That is to say that the best approach is to settle all the issues through negotiations based on law and international rules and regulations," Larijani said.
He and Solana did not go into the substance of their two-day talks, their first for more than two months.
The core dispute is Iran's refusal to suspend any part of efforts to enrich uranium against a U.N. demand that it halt all such activity to win a suspension of sanctions against it and launch negotiations leading to trade benefits on offer to Iran.
Some diplomats and analysts have said Iran and six world powers handling Iran's nuclear file could eventually accept a partial enrichment suspension under strict U.N. inspections to break the deadlock. But both sides have publicly denied this.
SITUATION STILL 'DIFFICULT'
Asked if he and Larijani discussed a limited suspension as a compromise to enable negotiations, Solana told reporters:
"We didn't enter any specific discussions of that nature. We have moved on in general terms. Some progress has been made. As you know, the situation is difficult."
A British Foreign Office spokesman said: "The Security Council resolution has said Iran needs to suspend enrichment activities. Solana won't be making any fresh offers. The conversation is more about the mechanics of getting back into talks."
Larijani and Solana suggested progress was made in reconciling what Iran calls its drive for peaceful nuclear energy with the fear of world powers that Tehran has a clandestine agenda to assemble atomic bombs.
"International Atomic Energy Agency inspections should remain in place and the Non-Proliferation Treaty should prevail. These are good frameworks serving as focal points of unity in both sides' views," Larijani said, as translated from Farsi.
Diplomats say the key to a breakthrough is finding a definition of an enrichment suspension both sides could stomach. This could, for example, mean suspending uranium fuel production but exempting the building or testing of centrifuge machines.
European officials say such compromises could be struck in the future, but only after Iran suspends enrichment activity.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has proclaimed Iran's ability to enrich on "industrial scale", but analysts say it remains at test level.
Larijani had said "irrational" Western preconditions - a reference to U.N. Security Council calls for shelving all enrichment activity - had thwarted diplomatic efforts to head off what some fear could be a slide into U.S.-Iranian conflict.
Despite the positive signs in Ankara, senior officials in Tehran said Iran would strike U.S. interests around the world and Israel if attacked over its nuclear programme.
Iran says near unity with EU in some nuclear areas
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