Iran does not meet with U.S. in Brussels

Secretary of the Iranian Supreme Council for National Security Hassan Rouhani does not intend to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell while in Brussels.

"Rouhani did not plan any meeting with Powell," official spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Hamid Reza Assefi said on Tuesday.

On Monday, Rouhani conducted negotiations with the leadership of the European Union. He also met with the Foreign Ministers of Great Britain, France and Germany. The aim of these talks was to confirm the agreements reached in Teheran in October 2003 on the Iranian nuclear program, clarify the positions of the European Union on the eve of the session of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna and prevent the "Iranian dossier" from being submitted to the UN Security Council.

The Foreign Ministers of the European countries were satisfied with Iran's readiness to sign an additional protocol to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to temporarily suspend the work on enriching uranium.

After his meeting with Rouhani, High Representative of the European Union for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana said Iran acted truthfully and the "Iranian dossier" should not be submitted to the UN Security Council.

However, serious differences arose between the U.S. and the European Union concerning the Iranian nuclear program. Powell disagreed with Solana's position. The Americans criticized the Foreign Ministers' draft resolution. The resolution was based on a report by IAEA Director General ElBaradei and confirms the peaceful trend of the Iranian nuclear program.