Iran has accused six major powers of ‘unreasonable behaviour’ over its disputed nuclear programme, but the European Union said on Tuesday it would stick to a dual approach combining diplomacy with the threat of sanctions.
Tehran’s accusation was contained in a letter from its top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili that was delivered to European Union foreign policy Chief Javier Solana on Monday.
“It’s a letter that in a way complains about our policy but our policy is clear. It’s a double-track approach,” Solana told Reuters in Berlin on Tuesday.
Asked whether the letter would make negotiations with Iran more difficult, Solana replied: “It’s just a letter.”
The United States and other western powers suspect Tehran is seeking a nuclear bomb under cover of its civilian nuclear programme. Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, denies it has any such intentions, saying it only wants to generate electricity.
Jalili’s letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, was addressed through Solana to foreign ministers of the six-power group consisting of the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany.
In June, the six gave Iran a beefed-up offer of political and economic incentives, including nuclear reactors, in exchange for suspending its uranium enrichment programme.
Iran responded at the time with a non-committal letter. The group of six handed the United Nations Security Council a toothless draft resolution on Iran’s nuclear programme in September after Washington, facing stiff Russian opposition, failed to secure agreement for fresh sanctions.
“In the judgment of the world community, this unreasonable behaviour is an indication of the lack of a clear response to the principled questions of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Jalili said in the letter.
Iran has shown no sign of compromise, vowing to resist U.S. “bullying” to force it to abandon its right to develop peaceful nuclear technology. Enrichment is at the heart of the dispute because it can be used either to provide reactor fuel or—if the uranium is purified to a much higher degree—to supply the fissile material for a nuclear bomb.
Jalili said “logical behaviour” by major powers could pave the ground for constructive talks to remove international concerns over the country’s nuclear work.
Solana, representing the six powers, and Jalili last discussed Tehran’s nuclear programme by telephone in August.
“It is interesting … to see that in the course of talks … the other party (the major powers) … resorts to levers of pressure instead of offering answers to questions and trying to remove ambiguities,” Jalili said.
Meanwhile, the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned on Tuesday of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East if Iran was allowed to press ahead unchecked with a uranium enrichment programme.
Speaking a day after Iran’s nuclear negotiator protested over the West’s attitude to Tehran’s atomic programme, he said Britain was “very concerned” about Iran’s refusal to be frank with the International Atomic Energy Authority Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog. “We are making a serious offer to Iran for economic, cultural, and scientific co-operation which I think is the way forward,” he said in an exchange with lawmakers in the House of Commons.
“But it’s not a way forward while they continue to defy not just the UN Security Council but also the (IAEA) which has continuing serious concerns about their programme and the refusal of the Iranian government to come clean about it.”
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