Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, expressed uncharacteristic disappointment last night over Iran's continued refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment programme in line with United Nations demands.
Speaking at the end of talks with Saeed Jalili, Iran's nuclear negotiator, he said: "I have to admit that after five hours of meetings I expec-ted more. I am dis-appointed."
Mr Solana said he might meet Mr Jalili again before the end of December for further talks. However, EU diplomats said yesterday's discussions had clearly seen no movement at all from the Iranians on the question of suspending enrichment.
"Solana is a hard man to disappoint," observed an EU diplomat. "Usually he manages to extract some kind of joint communiqué from meetings like this to keep alive the chance of progress. There has been no such statement this time."
Senior officials from the permanent five members of the UN Security Council and Germany will meet in Paris today to begin negotiating a new resolution on Iran. The US, the UK, France and Germany will be at the forefront of calls for new sanctions, but Russia and China have resisted such a move.
Today's meeting will be the first sign of whether Moscow and Beijing have shifted their position following a mixed report into Iran's nuclear programme two weeks ago from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Russia has expres-sed concern that Iran could acquire a nuclear weapon. China, which has significant economic interests in Iran, has been harder to convince of the need for more -sanctions.
At a press conference in London, Mr Jalili said it was "unacceptable" to demand that Iran halt its uranium enrichment programme and that any UN sanctions would fail to prevent Tehran from pursuing its atomic work.
He made clear that Iran believed its strategy was working and considered itself in a strong position. He said most countries were supportive of Iran's pursuit of a "work plan" agreed with the IAEA, under which it promised to answer past questions relating to its nuclear programme.
Mr Jalili said "only two or three countries" wanted to continue down the UN sanctions route and were increasingly isolated. In a reference to the US, he said some countries were looking for pretexts to put pressure on Iran, whether it co-operated on the nuclear issue or not.
Asked if he had offered Mr Solana a broader dialogue that includes Middle East security, Mr Jalili said Iran was a regional power: "The real question here is: are certain countries looking at this as an opportunity or a threat? We believe the might of Iran provides opportunity for regional stability."
