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World powers mull Vienna meeting on Iran
By Michael Adler
AFP
VIENNA
Petroleumworld.com 05 30 06World powers are planning to meet in Vienna Thursday over Iran's nuclear ambitions with the international community still at odds over the issue of possible sanctions against Tehran, diplomats said.
The proposed meeting of foreign ministers from the five permanent UN Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany, and including European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, has not yet been confirmed, diplomats told AFP.
But one European diplomat said it was being arranged in order to "fine-tune" a European Union-drafted package of incentives to get Iran to guarantee it will not make nuclear weapons, as well as sanctions if Tehran does not comply.
Political directors from the six foreign ministries will Tuesday discuss the package in a telephone conference, diplomats in Vienna confirmed.
One said the political directors would also attend any meeting Thursday in the Austrian capital.
A Western diplomat said the so-called EU-3 of Britain, France and Germany "are working hard now to revise their package to respond to concerns, mostly from (Iranian allies and trading partners) Russia and China."
The diplomat said disagreements centered around the timing of a Security Council resolution to require Iran to comply and open the door to sanctions, with Russia and China wanting to put this off but the United States plus the EU-3 wanting sanctions to quickly follow any Iranian non-compliance.
"There are still significant areas of disagreement" such as "the detail and commitment in the package to a specific menu of sanctions," the diplomat said.
According to a draft text seen by AFP, the possible sanctions include an arms embargo on Iran -- something Russia, a major arms supplier to Iran, and China, a major consumer of Iranian oil, resist.
The European diplomat said the disagreements were mainly over how to present the package and how hard to go on possible sanctions.
"Much depends on how you approach someone," the diplomat said.
Iran on Monday once again spurned the prospect of EU incentives to curtail its nuclear program, saying the bloc must acknowledge its right to nuclear technology.
"The main incentive for Iran is to recognise the essential right of Iran to have nuclear technology and the ways of realising this right," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said when asked about the incentive plan.
The United States and the EU-3 want Iran to abandon all uranium enrichment activities since this process makes not only fuel for nuclear power reactors but also can make the raw material for atom bombs.
Iran insists on its right to enrich uranium but would be willing to limit its enrichment activities, diplomats have said.
msa/km
AFP 29 1545 GMT 05 06
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