ElBaradei Not to Attend Iran-E.U. Meeting in Brussels: report
(DPA)
11 December 2004
TEHERAN - The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohammad ElBaradei, will probably not attend the meeting between Iran and the European Union in Brussels, the Iranian news service Mehr reported Saturday.
Mehr quoted an IAEA official as saying that there were some problems with regards to ElBaradei’s time schedule and due to protocol, no other IAEA official could attend the meeting except ElBaradei.
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani will meet on Monday with the foreign ministers of the E.U. Trio - Britain, France and Germany - as well as E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana to discuss the nuclear agreement reached earlier this month.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2004/December/middleeast_December283.xml§ion=middleeast
We'll Quit Nuke Talks: Iran
The Australian/correspondents in Tehran
12dec04
IRAN'S top nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani has warned that the Islamic republic would abandon key talks with the European Union on its nuclear programme if it was clear no progress was being made.
The talks, set to begin in Brussels tomorrow, are aimed at building on Iran's agreement to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment activities that have sparked fears the clerical regime is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.
The two sides will be hammering out a long-term accord that includes "objective guarantees" Iran will not develop the bomb and a package of trade, technology and security incentives.
"We will continue the negotiations for as long as they are progressing," Mr Rowhani told the official news agency IRNA before leaving for the Brussels talks.
"If at any point that our negotiations are not progressing, we will stop them. The end of these three months of negotiations will indicate to us which point we have reached," added the cleric, who heads Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
Iran has pledged to maintain its nuclear fuel cycle freeze for the duration of the negotiations.
On Monday, Mr Rowhani is to meet the British, French and German foreign ministers in a steering committee conference on the sidelines of an EU ministerial gathering.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11669166%255E1702,00.html