From AFP: EU admits Iran nuke talks have failed.
The European Union has admitted that its nuclear talks with Iran have run into a dead end and that it has been left with "no choice" but to return the matter to the UN Security Council.In a text adopted in Luxembourg Tuesday, EU foreign ministers expressed deep concern that Iran had not suspended uranium enrichment -- a process for fuelling a nuclear reactor but which could also be used to make an atomic bomb.
Major world powers have been debating whether to sanction Iran for ignoring an August 31 UN deadline to suspend the process, and preparations have been building for action at the Security Council. ...
They "expressed deep concern that Iran has not yet suspended its enrichment-related and reprocessing activities as required" by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Security Council.
However the EU left open its door for further diplomacy.
"It reaffirmed its commitment to a negotiated solution, and that such a solution would contribute to the development of the EU's relations with Iran. It urged Iran to take the positive path on offer," the conclusions said. ...
"Iran refused everything," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told journalists. "So we are returning to the Security Council to find measures that can be phased in but which are reversible."
He said that would allow a return to diplomacy if Iran was ready for it.
How did Iran respond? From Reuters: Iran to EU: you will lose if you back U.N. sanctions.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator told European states on Wednesday they would be the losers if they joined the United States to push through a U.N. Security Council resolution punishing Tehran for its nuclear program. ...Iran's chief nuclear negotiator told European states on Wednesday they would be the losers if they joined the United States to push through a U.N. Security Council resolution punishing Tehran for its nuclear program. ...
The incentives package did not threaten penalties if Iran refused, but the failure of months of talks between Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana prompted EU foreign ministers to back incremental measures.
UPDATE I: From Little Green Footballs: Ahmadinejad: Israel "Cannot Survive," Iran's Enemies Are "Paralyzed". Quoting a MEMRI article:
The reformist daily Aftab-e Yazd reported that Ahmadinejad had said in his address that Iran “must stand firm [in its nuclear policy]; we have one more step, and if we pass that, this [matter] will be attained.”A few days previously, on October 11, 2006, Ahmadinejad had made similar statements on the nuclear issue, in a speech in the city of Shahriyar:“...The enemies are completely paralyzed, and cannot in any way confront the Iranian people. If our people maintain unity and solidarity, they [i.e. the enemies] must expect a great [Iranian] victory, because we have [only] one step remaining before we attain the summit of nuclear technology.”
In that speech, Ahmadinejad underlined the West’s inability to act: “The enemy will never confront us. An attack on Iran is nonsense.”
UPDATE II -- Oct. 23: From FoxNews: Iran's Ahmadinejad Says Nuclear Program Will Proceed.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Monday that Iran's nuclear program had grown 10 times stronger in the last year and said Western powers were wrong if they thought Iran would retreat under political pressure from its nuclear plans.Posted by Forkum at October 19, 2006 05:01 PMAhmadeinejad's comments came as diplomats in Vienna said Iran is expanding its uranium enrichment program even as the U.N. Security Council focuses on possible sanctions for Tehran's defiance of its demand that it give up the activity and ease fears it seeks nuclear weapons, diplomats said Monday.
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