- UNITED NATIONS - Iran is
willing to provide nuclear technology to other Muslim states, Iran's hard-line
president said Thursday. Hours later, European nations renewed an offer
of economic incentives if the mideast nation would halt its uranium enrichment.
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- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the comment after
talking with Turkey's prime minister during a gathering of world leaders
at the United Nations, Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said.
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- Ahmadinejad repeated promises that Iran will not develop
nuclear weapons, the report said. Then he added: "Iran is ready to
transfer nuclear know-how to the Islamic countries due to their need."
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- At the United Nations, foreign ministers of Britain,
France and Germany - the three European countries negotiating with Iran
on behalf of the European Union - emerged from a meeting with Iran's new
foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, and its top nuclear negotiator, Ali
Larijani, to say that the offer they had made earlier was still on the
table.
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- "We put forth proposals. They are still on the table,"
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said after the 80-minute meeting.
"They have yet properly to be considered by the other side."
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- German Foreign Minister Joshcka Fischer said the EU is
waiting for the new Iranian government to make its proposals.
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- "We just underlined that our position is on the
table, our position is unchanged and we are waiting now for the announcement
of the new proposals of the Iranians," he said.
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- Straw said the EU ministers would hold a meeting later
Thursday with the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, and U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan.
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- The U.S. State Department expressed concern about Ahmedinejad's
reported proposal, saying it makes it more vital that other countries work
in concert to stop the Iranian threat.
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- The EU-Iranian meetings took place amid growing opposition
from countries to referring the Iran nuclear dispute to the U.N. Security
Council.
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- The United States, which suspects Iran may be seeking
to develop nuclear weapons, and European countries warned last week that
Tehran is running out of time to freeze uranium processing activities or
face referral to the Security Council.
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- But Tehran, which says its nuclear program is for peaceful
energy production, has rejected the threat and has warned the United Nations
not to go down that road. On Sunday, Mottaki said his country wants to
continue dialogue with Europe without preconditions.
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- Diplomats and officials said in Vienna that due to opposition
by veto-wielding Security Council members Russia and China, as well as
by India, Pakistan and other key nations, Washington and the EU were reluctantly
weighing less severe options for Monday's board meeting of the International
Atomic Energy Agency. They spoke on condition of anonymity.
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- France, Britain and Germany, together with the European
Union, have sought for two years to persuade Iran to give up some nuclear
activities that can be used to make weapons, but negotiations broke down
over the summer and it ended an agreement reached in Paris.
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- Since then, Iran has resumed activities related to uranium
enrichment after rejecting a European package of proposals that had called
on Iran to permanently stop its uranium enrichment program in return for
a supply of nuclear fuel and economic incentives.
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- Straw pointed out that the meetings Thursday were the
first with the Iranian side since the election of Ahmedinejad in June.
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- Asked whether the European were losing ground in the
negotiations, Straw replied: "What we're doing is talking and that
is always better than not talking. There is a new government. They wish
to explain their position."
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- France's foreign minister called the discussions a significant
moment.
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- "We had a very frank discussion, which allows me
to explain what I've been saying from the very beginning so as to avoid
a crisis and to be able to speak in full confidence," Philippe Douste-Blazy
said.
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