European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana (L), Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani (R) and Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul listen to a question during a news conference in Ankara April 26, 2007. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
ANKARA, April 26
(Xinhua) -- Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said here Thursday that
his talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana were approaching "a united
view" over the disputed nuclear issue.
"I think in some areas we are approaching a united
view," Larijani said at a joint news conference with Solana and Turkish Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul after a breakfast meeting.
"This is to say that the best approach is to settle
all the issues through negotiations based on law and international rules and
regulations," he added.
Larijani also highlighted the importance of the
Turkish role in hosting the meeting, saying it was a sign of deepening relations
between Turkey and Iran.
On Wednesday, Larijani and Solana held two rounds of
talks in the Turkish capital of Ankara over Iran's uranium enrichment program.
After their meetings, the two negotiators told reporters that they had made
progress in their talks.
For his part, Solana said that they had a "good
meeting" over the issue on Wednesday. He also expressed his wish that the
Iranian issue would be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.
Last year, Iran and the EU held several rounds of
talks but failed to find a solution to solve the crisis. Their last face-to-face
meeting was on Feb. 11.
"We will not be in a position to make a great
breakthrough during this visit to Ankara. But we hope we would be able to
continue," Solana told reporters at the news conference.
When asked whether their next meeting would take
place in Ankara, Solana said that they had not decided the venue of the meeting
yet.
The UN Security Council has passed two resolutions in
December and March, urging Iran to halt all enrichment-related and reprocessing
activities, which the United States considered as Iran's attempts to develop
nuclear weapons under the cover of its civilian nuclear programs.
However, Iran has denied the accusation and shown no
sign of yielding in the nuclear stand-off, saying its uranium enrichment has
reached an industrial level and announcing its wishes to install over 50,000
uranium enriching centrifuges at a plant in Natanz.
Earlier this month, Larijani has warned that Tehran
could retreat from the Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if the
international community imposes further pressure over its nuclear program.
ANKARA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Iranian and EU negotiators on
Wednesday finished two rounds of what they called pleasant talks on Iran's
nuclear program and said that they scheduled a new round of talks in two
weeks.
At the end of Wednesday's six-hour two rounds of
discussions, Iranian top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told reporters, "We
will have some talks tomorrow and in two weeks." He also described Wednesday's
discussions as pleasant. Full story
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