A senior Iranian envoy yesterday called contacts between Tehran and the EU a "step in the right direction" in resolving the standoff over his country's refusal to freeze uranium enrichment and accused the US of trying to sabotage the talks.
Ali Ashgar Soltanieh spoke as senior EU and Iranian representatives met in a new round of talks on enrichment and other nuclear differences between Tehran and the international community.
That meeting, scheduled for Paris, was moved in the last minute to Geneva for "logistical reasons," EU spokeswoman Cristine Gallach said, without elaboration.
Only "the continuation of dialogue and negotiations free from any kind of threat, pressure or any preconditions can pave the way" to a negotiated solution, Soltanieh told a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board shortly before the conclusion of the four-day conference.
Talks up to now have been positive, he added, "even though the US poisoned the positive environment" before the first EU-Iran meeting through "unfounded allegations" suggesting Iran was trying to make nuclear weapons.
And he dismissed US suggestions that Washington's push for UN sanctions against Iran was part of the diplomatic process, asserting the Americans had also described their "unilateral military invasion in Iraq as `multinational democracy."'
Talks that ended on Sunday between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Ali Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, were described by both men as positive. Officials in delegations familiar with the outcome of their talks said Larijani had suggested his country was ready to consider an enrichment freeze for up to two months.
Still, they later said the Iranian suggestion fell short of demands by the UN Security Council's five permanent members and Germany that such a freeze be imposed before any further talks begin.
Soltanieh, asked about enrichment, told reporters: "such a matter had not been discussed." But a senior diplomat familiar with the talks again said it had surfaced during two rounds of Solana-Larijani talks, which ended on Sunday.
Dampening hopes about yesterday's EU-Iran meeting in Geneva was the abrupt decision to downgrade it to the level of senior aides to Solana and Larijani instead of the principals meeting themselves.
There was no formal word on what prompted that decision. But a European official who asked for anonymity said that there was "nothing sinister" about the move.
There are details to be worked on and that's best done at the senior expert level," said the official.
Soltanieh also said the negotiations were going well, saying: "Everything is on the right track."
China again expressed its preference for talks instead of sanctions yesterday, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
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