Deadline Issued in Talks on Iran's Uranium Enrichment

The US has called on Iran to choose between being confrontational or cooperative on the issue of its nuclear activity. At discussions currently taking place in Geneva, US, United Nations and European Union officials requested that Iran halt enriching uranium adding, that, in exchange, they would pledge not to impose any new rounds of sanctions on the country.

With Iraq saying that such a situation could not be guaranteed, the diplomats subsequently imposed a timeline, providing Tehran with 14 days to reply.

The Geneva talks represented the initial face-to-face meeting between officials from both the US and Iran on the subject of the latter's nuclear state.

"We hope the Iranian people understand that their leaders need to make a choice between co-operation, which would bring benefits to all, and confrontation, which can only lead to further isolation", spokesman for the US State Department, Sean McCormack, stated.

While silent in terms of comments to the media, one of those present in Geneva was US official William Burns.

Burns, said McCormack, had provided the talks with a "clear, simple message" concerning the US' commitment to the new Iranian offer, but with such commitment provided on the basis that Iran complied.

Iranian Missile Tests

The Geneva discussions followed a sustained period of mounting tensions. Earlier this month, Iran carried out a number of missile test-launches while, prior to that, Israel had been involved in what was described as a "rehearsal" for an attack on Iran.

Javier Solana, an official representing the European Union, referred to the meeting as "constructive". He added, however, "still, we didn't get the answer to our questions."

"We hope very much we get the answer and we hope it will be done in a couple of weeks", Solana - expected to carry out further talks with Iran in coming days - concluded.

According to one correspondent, on the surface Iran seems to be keen on the proposal, but there are question marks over whether officials there are failing to see eye-to-eye, or whether other factors are causing the delay in its response.

Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili commented on how he had suggested a number of positive ideas, and called on the West to stick to the discussions.

"This package we have proposed contains a number of possibilities. In a nutshell, it is a new opportunity which should not be lost", he said.

The discussions, however, lost some of their shine when one Iranian official stated that the possibility of the country discarding its enrichment of uranium was zero.

Uranium Enrichment

In response to claims over its alleged progress towards nuclear weapons construction, Iran has maintained that its enriched uranium is intended solely for peaceful energy purposes.

However, by continuing to carry out the enrichment process, it has acted in contravention of the United Nations.

Diplomatic relations between the US and Iran ended nearly 30 years ago, although limited contact has taken place since then.

Source - Armed Forces International's European Correspondent

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