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EU, Iran deeply divided as Tehran claims victory in nuclear talks

ImageNCRI – The European Union and Iranian regime still appear to be on a collision course over Tehran’s alleged atomic weapons intentions despite the revival of talks, diplomats and analysts told AFP Thursday.

The EU talks with Iranian regime resumed on Wednesday over Tehran’s nuclear program but with the regime insisting on its right to make nuclear fuel, and the West suspicious that this could be used to manufacture atom bombs, the two sides are far apart, EU and mullahs’ officials said.

NCRI – The European Union and Iranian regime still appear to be on a collision course over Tehran’s alleged atomic weapons intentions despite the revival of talks, diplomats and analysts told AFP Thursday.

The EU talks with Iranian regime resumed on Wednesday over Tehran’s nuclear program but with the regime insisting on its right to make nuclear fuel, and the West suspicious that this could be used to manufacture atom bombs, the two sides are far apart, EU and mullahs’ officials said.

If talks fail, the EU, backed by the United States, has said it will take Iranian regime to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions. The regime has threatened to retaliate against such a move.

"I don’t know that it (resuming talks) means much more than that the date of confrontation is postponed as long as Iran is not yet resuming its enrichment work," said Mark Fitzpatrick, a non-proliferation analyst at London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"The Europeans can be patient and I’m sure that they appreciated that the confrontation was postponed beyond the Christmas season," Fitzpatrick said. "But it will likely come in the not too distant future."

French political analyst Francois Heisbourg said recent comments by mullahs’ President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denying the Holocaust and saying Israel should be wiped off the map had reduced the room for maneuver.

"I think that the Iranian delegation (to the talks) has to be careful not to break off with the Europeans because the somewhat crazy declarations of Ahmadinejad have made the situation fragile," Heisbourg said adding that if the Europeans give in to the Iranians at this point, it would raise cries of "appeasement.”
 
An EU diplomat said the negotiators had warned the Iranian regime that there should be no movement "in the manufacturing of centrifuge components and research on centrifuges," the machines that enrich uranium. But mullahs’ diplomat told AFP in Vienna that his government did not consider such research or centrifuge work to be "a subject of the discussion."

"The Iranians pretend they’re talking and just get a little more," a Western diplomat said about Iran’s past success in moving ahead on its nuclear program while holding negotiations.

The West is hesitating over Security Council referral as it wants to get Russia to support such a move. But Fitzpatrick said however that Western nations could act without the Security Council, "such as bringing economic pressure collectively on Iran," as the United States has already proposed.

An EU diplomat said the divide between the West and Iranian regime was so great that it "was unclear how there could be a compromise."

This is while the regime on Thursday voiced satisfaction at the revival of talks with the European Union saying the deadlock has been broken without Tehran being called on to suspend sensitive fuel work.

"The very fact that the dangerous process, which began with the resolution of September 24th, has stopped constitutes a diplomatic victory," said Hossein Entezami, spokesman for the Supreme National Security Council which is in charge of mullahs’ nuclear projects, on Thursday.
 
Western members of the UN nuclear watchdog held off from demanding that Iran be sent before the Security Council in November, in order to leave negotiators another chance.
Entezami, in his remarks published Thursday, cited another example of what he described as evidence that Iran’s stance had shown results.

"On the eve of the November meeting, some politicians advised us to stop uranium conversion at Isfahan (nuclear facility) to avoid a harsh reaction from the international community," ridiculed Entezami adding, "But our principled position gave results and the Europeans agreed to return to the negotiating table without any preconditions. This constitutes a diplomatic success."