BRUSSELS - Iran is stalling on fixing a date and location for
a new round of talks on its nuclear program, the European Union's foreign
policy chief said on Wednesday, but there is still hope that talks between
Tehran and six world powers can begin soon.
EU officials have been in
contact with Iranian negotiators repeatedly since December to try to prepare a
new set of talks, which the West hopes will lead to Iran scaling back its atomic
work. No plans have yet been fixed.
"We proposed concrete dates and a
venue in December," said a spokesman for Catherine Ashton, who oversees contacts
with Iran on behalf of United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and
Germany, often referred to as the six world powers.
"Since then, we have
been very surprised to see Iran come back to us again and again with new
pre-conditions on the modalities of the talks, for example by changing the venue
and delaying their responses," spokesman Michael Mann said.
The six
powers have used a mix of diplomacy and economic sanctions for years to force
Iran to comply with United Nations demands that it suspends all of its
activities related to enriching uranium, a key component of nuclear
weapons.
But Iran rejects international accusations that its nuclear work
has military goals, saying it is for medical and energy purposes, and has
repeatedly said it wants international sanctions eased before it limits its
atomic work.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) must accept the "contentious points" Iran insists upon in regards to their nuclear program, official IRNA news agency quoted Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh as saying Wednesday.
"We have been able to remove some of our differences in previous meetings but there are still some contentious points on which we insist,ˈ Soltanieh said in Berlin.
According to the IRNA report, the Iranian diplomat stressed that the success of the nuclear talks depends on whether the IAEA can accept the reality of a nuclear Iran.
Three rounds of negotiations last year failed to produce to
a breakthrough, fueling concerns that the stand-off could prompt Israel to
attack Iran's nuclear installations and envelop the Middle East in another
war.
Western diplomats had hoped that a new round could take place in
January, following last year's presidential election in the United States. But
Iran had failed to respond in time to a proposal to have talks take place on
Jan. 15.
Ashton's spokesman said negotiators remained in contact to agree
on a new date.
"The (world powers) are still hoping to reach agreement
with Iran on the modalities of the talks, including venue, with a view to
resuming talks shortly," he said.
The Iranian Students' News Agency
reported on Wednesday that Tehran had proposed Cairo as a possible
venue.
An EU diplomat said several locations had been proposed so far and
there was no agreement.
"We do not exclude any, but Iran is proposing
different venues all the time. The venue is not the issue, but Iran appears to
be trying to delay the process by coming up with new conditions," the diplomat
said.