Iran vows to open uranium plant in weeks

A SENIOR EU envoy says Iran has pledged to open its recently revealed uranium enrichment plant to UN inspectors perhaps in the next few weeks.

Javier Solana, the EU’s top foreign policy official, also confirmed Iran and six world powers will hold a new set of talks on international concerns about Tehran’s nuclear programme and other issues raised by the Islamic Republic. He spoke yesterday after the seven-nation meeting outside Geneva.

The US and Iran sat down for bilateral talks during a break, a significant departure from past US policy of not negotiating with Tehran.

Solana said the next seven-nation negotiations will be later in October.

The US said it held the highest level direct talks with Iran in three decades to try to put to rest Western suspicions Tehran is planning a nuclear bomb.

The negotiations outside Geneva, also attended by Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, took place against a backdrop of renewed international concern prompted by Iran’s revelation it has a second uranium enrichment facility. Washington had said it would not threaten further sanctions against Tehran at the one-day meeting but had prepared them in case the discussions made no progress.

“This can’t be a phoney process,” a senior US official said in Washington.

Tehran says its nuclear programme is designed purely for generating electricity and had ruled out discussing it, saying the talks should focus on issues like Afghanistan instead.

But a Western diplomat close to the meeting said Iran’s nuclear negotiator had touched on it in his opening statement.

A Western diplomat said the issue of the second enrichment facility at Qom had been raised. The West wants Iran to allow immediate UN inspections at the plant and give access to documents and employees.

The diplomat said it was not yet clear if the Iranians would compromise on the wider issue of suspending uranium enrichment, as demanded by five UN Security Council resolutions.

Iranian state television said later the two sides would meet again this month. President Barack Obama has said he wants progress before the end of the year.