2ND Iran makes no new proposals in nuclear row, EU says

dpa German Press Agency Published: Monday February 12, 2007

Brussels- The European Union on Monday cautiously
welcomed recent Iranian comments in the long-standing nuclear dispute
with the country, saying the signals from Tehran were not of new
offers.
"We have not heard any new proposals from Iran," EU top diplomat
Javier Solana, who negotiates with Iran on behalf of Western nations,
told reporters after meeting EU foreign ministers.

Solana said "possibilities (for a solution) are not immense ...
but there is the possibility for us now to have a more constructive
dialogue (with Iran) in the future."

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose country
currently chairs the rotating EU presidency, said he had "the
impression that in Iran there is new ambition to return to the
negotiating table."

Steinmeier said that the EU was "not seeking escalation, we want
solution, we will take every possible opportunity."

However, he cautioned that the bloc first needed to see whether
recent statements by Iranian officials were serious.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told Solana Sunday at
a security conference in Munich that Tehran wanted to clinch a deal
with the US and Europe and was ready to address all concerns of
Western nations over its nuclear programme.

Solana said his feeling about the meeting in Munich was "rather
good than bad."

EU foreign ministers on Monday also agreed to implement United
Nations sanctions on Iran but did not back British and US demands to
go further at this stage.

Last December, the UN imposed preliminary sanctions on Iran over
its failure to prove its experimental efforts to enrich uranium were
aimed solely at generating electricity as Tehran insisted.

The EU spearheads international efforts to clinch a diplomatic
deal to end the Iranian nuclear crisis.

The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany all
want Iran to stop its enrichment programme. But their approaches have
differed over the past year, often straining the joint effort.

International negotiations with Tehran broke down last September.

Larijani told the Munich meeting that Tehran had the right to
peaceful nuclear technology and that his country's uranium enrichment
activities were purely focused on research and development.

His comments came ahead of a March 6 UN deadline for Iran to
suspend uranium enrichment or face expanded sanctions.

Tehran has so far rejected the UN demand.

The US and Europe say Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at
producing nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran vehemently denies.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency