Monday, February 20, 2006

Russia /Iran nuke talks drag on..sort of


An Iranian delegation met Russian negotiators in Moscow Monday to discuss an offer to enrich uranium outside Iran, while Tehran's foreign minister spoke with EU officials in Brussels about Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Moscow has an offer on the table to enrich uranium for Tehran on Russian soil -- an offer Russia says is open IF Iran completely halts its nuclear enrichment program inside its borders.

However, Iranian officials have said in the past that they refuse to consider any deal that would deny Iran's right to enrich uranium on its own soil.

The day ended with both sides saying that talks would continue, but neither side had any information as to when that might be. Hardly surprising.

In Brussels, in a meeting with EU officials Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki repeated that Iran's nuclear program was for `peaceful purposes'.
You would think that the Iranians would get tired of that song by now...

But EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana reported that no progress had come in his meeting with Mottaki and said that the Iranians' position had not changed.

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