Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani will meet EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Wednesday, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday.
"[Larijani and Solana] are in daily contact," Hamid-Reza Assefi told reporters in Tehran. "The last contact was just [Saturday], and they will meet on Wednesday probably in an European city."
Larijani said last week that he would meet Solana in Spain.
The spokesman reiterated that there was no deadline for the reply to the Western nuclear proposal but Tehran would be ready to reply in the Persian month of Mordad, which starts on July 23.
"I am sure that the West too does not want us to sacrifice thoroughness for the sake of speed -- we are not killing time but studying the issue very carefully and the West should appreciate this," Assefi said, referring to Western demands to speed up the date of reply.
The spokesman said the Larijani-Solana meeting would be aimed at clarifying the stance of both sides and removing ambiguities and set the framework for further negotiations.
"Our aim is to remove Western concern [that Iran's nuclear program is not going towards a military direction] but this does not mean that we would sacrifice our national interests in return," Assefi said.
"If logic prevails in the negotiations, then I am optimistic that the issue could be diplomatically settled," the spokesman added.
Assefi reiterated that Iran's final aim is to realize its right to its own nuclear fuel cycle and would not fear sanctions in reaching this aim.
Rally for rajavi
Meanwhile, thousands of Iranians from across Europe gathered in Le Bourget, France on Saturday in support of the National Council of Resistance of Iran and its leader, Maryam Rajavi, who was recently freed from French judicial restrictions that limited her movement.
Rajavi's message to the assembled crowd of 10,000 or more was that Iran needed neither nuclear weapons nor nuclear power but secular democracy, presumably led by Rajavi herself -- or her husband, Massoud Rajavi, who is now presumed to be in hiding in Iraq.
But the meeting's deeper message was that the Rajavi organization is still alive and biding its time.
Violent tactics
The National Council, which Maryam Rajavi heads, has been declared a terrorist organization by the US because of the violent tactics of its military arm. Washington and the EU have made the same declaration about the council's dominant military arm, the Mujahidin Khalq, or People's Holy Warriors.
Its militia in Iraq has been disarmed and confined to a camp north of Baghdad since May 2003. Rajavi's freedom to travel was restricted after a raid that July on the group's headquarters near Paris.
The organization has been lobbying to have the terrorist label removed and to be taken seriously as a viable opposition movement to topple the theocracy in Iran.
Despite those problems, Maryam Rajavi has built a loyal following among middle-class Iranian immigrants across Europe, primarily through an online network of Iranian women.
More women than men support Rajavi "because of the misogynist character of the Iranian regime," one woman said.
Most of the women were dressed in typical European summer fashions, in contrast to Rajavi's signature headscarf and matching suit, bright green on this occasion.
They arrived for the weekend-long event by bus from as far north as Norway and as far south as Italy. Many people came free or for nominal sums, their travel subsidized by local donations.
"They are the only organization that can bring freedom to Iran," said Sofie Soroori, 38, who came to the rally from Sweden.
She dismissed talk of the organization's dark side, blaming the mullahs in Iran for misinformation.
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