Iran nuclear enrichment talks deadlocked in London

The latest round of negotiations aimed at convincing Iran to scrap its nuclear program ended without a breakthrough yesterday, although talks are set to continue, the Foreign Office said.

Closed-door negotiations in London between senior European and Iranian officials on Tehran’s uranium enrichment program, which the country agreed in November to temporarily freeze, reached no conclusion.

All parties will attend talks on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in New York on May 2, where informal discussions are likely to continue in the sidelines.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said on Thursday that if the London talks were not successful, “negotiations will collapse and we will have no choice but to restart the uranium enrichment program.”

“No conclusions were reached, either positive or negative,” a senior British Foreign Office official said on condition of anonymity. “Both sides have gone away and agreed to reflect on what was discussed. Talks will continue.”

France, Britain and Germany, acting on behalf of the 25-nation European Union, are seeking guarantees that Iran will not use its nuclear program to make weapons, as Washington suspects.

Tehran insists the program – kept secret for two decades – is only for peaceful energy purposes and is reserving the right to restart uranium enrichment activities, which it froze in November.

Uranium enriched to low levels can be used as fuel in nuclear reactors to generate electricity, but further enrichment makes it suitable for a nuclear bomb.

The European countries want Tehran to abandon its enrichment activities permanently in exchange for economic aid, technical support and backing for Iran’s efforts to join mainstream international organisations.

The US last month agreed to support the EU diplomatic effort, ending its opposition to Iran’s application for membership in the World Trade Organisation and a partial lifting of the ban on sales of some spare parts for Iran’s civilian aircraft.

But at the same time, Washington signalled that Iran should quickly accept the offer – or face the threat of harsh UN Security Council sanctions.

A European diplomat said that Britain, France and Germany were keen for the negotiations to continue until the June presidential elections in Iran, when the country would be better placed to make long term decisions.

Iran’s powerful former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, speaking during Friday prayers at Tehran University ahead of the London meeting, said his country will continue ”prolonged” sessions with the Europeans “with patience and firmness” to convince them that Iran doesn’t want to make nuclear weapons.