The European Union agreed today to try to clarify Iran's stance on halting uranium enrichment within two weeks as the UN secretary general arrived in Tehran to discuss the dispute.
Kofi Annan's visit to Iran takes place two days after the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reported Tehran had failed to meet the UN Security Council's August 31st deadline to suspend sensitive work.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier
The United States, which accuses Iran of seeking atomic bombs, said yesterday it was consulting European governments about possible sanctions against the Islamic Republic, but the EU signalled it wanted to see more dialogue with Tehran which says its atomic activity is aimed at producing power.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will meet Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, next week to try to clear up ambiguities in Tehran's 21-page reply to the major powers' offer of broad co-operation if it stops the activities that could ultimately produce atomic weapons.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said after the 25 EU ministers discussed the Iranian issue in Finland today: "We give Solana two weeks for his clarification talks."
But MR Solana told reporters: "There's no deadline, whenever we finish ... We are going to start in the coming days and I hope that it will be very short. We don't need many meetings."
Other EU ministers said MR Solana would report back to them in Brussels on September 15th and they had agreed not to take any action against Iran before then.
So far Iran has given no sign it is prepared to meet the international community's condition for opening negotiations on economic, technological and political cooperation.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remained defiant today and was quoted by the ISNA student news agency as saying: "Our nation is a supporter of peace but it will not retreat an iota from its right to nuclear technology."
Mr Annan was expected to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Larijani, who is also the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, today.
He will press Iran to help shore up the Hizbollah-Israel ceasefire, but diplomats say the talks will also cover the nuclear confrontation.
In Finland, EU ministers declined to talk publicly of sanctions if Tehran did not comply on halting enrichment and stressed their preference for a solution through dialogue.
"Despite our intensive efforts of the last six months, there has up to today unfortunately been no signal of reciprocity from Iran," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
But he added: "We in the EU and Germany have no interest in an escalation in the coming days and weeks due to deliberations in the Security Council.
"That's why we and the EU foreign policy chief will neglect no opportunity to keep trying to find out through talks whether there is a possibility to return to the negotiating table."