UN Security Council discusses the Iran question

Talks between Iran and three &to= english.pravda.ru/main/18/89/356/9937_WTO.html ' target=_blank>European Union heavyweights ended on Saturday without an agreement on Tehran's nuclear program, a source close to the negotiations said. Iran was seeking a compromise in the talks with France, Germany and Britain to avoid a dispute over its nuclear program being referred to the &to= english.pravda.ru/usa/2003/02/25/43713.html ' target=_blank>United Nations Security Council and avert the risk of sanctions. The EU trio wants Iran to stop enriching uranium. "At the end of difficult talks, the two parties made considerable progress toward a provisional agreement on a common approach on these issues," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement. But a source close to the negotiations said: "Nothing is settled ... The discussions were difficult, very difficult. The Iranians struggled hard." "Everyone has to touch base now," the source added after the second day of talks. "That's the end of this meeting ... There is no (further) meeting planned." Iran denies U.S. accusations that it is developing nuclear weapons. It says uranium enrichment, a process of purifying uranium for use as fuel in atomic power plants or in weapons, is a sovereign right that it will never abandon. Its official IRNA news agency said lawmakers had drafted a bill, to go to parliament next week, outlawing the state from developing nuclear weapons in a bid to show the world that Tehran's atomic ambitions were entirely peaceful, informs Reuters. According to the NYTimes, two days of negotiations between Iranian and European officials to curb Iran's uranium enrichment program made progress but ended Saturday without a formal agreement, European officials close to the discussion said. The French foreign ministry spokesman, Hervй Ladsous, reported "considerable progress in reaching a provisional agreement" under which France, Britain, Germany and the European Union would provide economic, technological and political incentives in exchange for Iran's halting production of &to= english.pravda.ru/world/2003/11/22/51411.html ' target=_blank>enriched uranium. But officials stressed that the agreement had not been formally accepted by Iran and that the Iranian delegation would return home to Tehran for consultation on the issue. The United Nations nuclear agency has given Iran a &to= english.pravda.ru/world/2002/09/06/36103.html ' target=_blank>deadline of Nov. 25 to suspend its uranium enrichment program or have its case sent to the Security Council, where it could face &to= english.pravda.ru/main/2002/04/13/27601.html ' target=_blank>economic penalties. Iran has refused to suspend its uranium enrichment program for longer than six months and insists on its right to produce its own fuel. Officials would not comment on the substance of the talks, but it was understood Iran would be offered nuclear fuel and promised increased trade if it stopped its enrichment activities. Iran was reportedly offering a six-month suspension of enrichment, while the European trio want an indefinite moratorium, according to Reuters. Two previous summits in Vienna, Austria, failed to reach agreement. Diplomats say there is a deadline of mid-November for a conclusion to these talks and if they fail, Europe will back American calls to refer Iran to the UN Security Council. But Iranian officials have dismissed that as an empty threat. The BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran says with oil prices already so high, they believe the West cannot afford to embargo Iranian oil, reports BBC News.