EU rejects idea of Iran enrichment "pause" - diplomats

Thursday, 20 April 2006

By Louis Charbonneau BERLIN (Reuters) - European diplomats on Thursday dismissed as unacceptable a suggestion that Iran take a brief "technical pause" from its nuclear enrichment activities in an attempt to revive collapsed negotiations with the EU. Several diplomats told Reuters that Mohamed ElBaradei, the director-general of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), discussed this idea with Iranian officials during a visit to Tehran last week and hoped it could revive collapsed negotiations with the "EU3" -- France, Britain and Germany. But European Union diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was unacceptable and reiterated that Iran had to reinstate a full and sustained suspension of all uranium enrichment activity in order for talks to resume. "A full suspension is the only way to resolve this and the Iranians have given no indication they are willing to do that," a senior EU diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity. more