Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, gestures in front of a poster as he speaks during a press conference in Tehran, Iran on Monday April 24, 2006.
Photo: AP
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Iran Rebuffs EU-3 Again
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad turned down Sunday past week's offer of the EU-3 put forward in an effort to end the nuclear crisis. This move of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad signals no carrot will make his country stop enriching uranium. Nevertheless, the EU-3 meets again in Brussels today to work out new incentives that may resolve the nuclear standoff. The situation has further clouded once inspectors of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found traces of highly enriched uranium on the nuclear facility of Iran.
It appears Iranian leaders have been only stirred up by the latest promise of the Europeans, known as the EU-3. The Europe proposed to Iran to grant the most favored nation treatment in trading and assist in constructing energy facilities, including reactors for nuclear power plants, in exchange for abandoning uranium enrichment.
Moreover, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad looks obviously inspired once back from Bali, where he met heads of state and prime ministers of Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Turkey and Malaysia and ministers from Egypt and Bangladesh and received their support and backup. He wasted no time and made clear Sunday that the best incentive for Iran would be acknowledging its right to carry on nuclear research and generate nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Notwithstanding that Iran apparently sees no sense in proposals related to abandoning nuclear program, the EU-3 reassembles in Brussels today to think of another promise. The sources say a new offer of the Europeans will be even more advantageous and set forth even larger package of trading, economic and political benefits.
For the EU-3, time is short now, as five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council will meet in London May 19 to complete resolution on Iran. On the other hand, the situation has become more tense on rumors emerged late past week. IAEA inspectors are said to have spotted the traces of highly enriched uranium in one of the nuclear facilities of Iran.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 15, 2006
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