‘EU not insisting that Iran abandon uranium enrichment’

VIENNA - EU negotiators are not insisting that Iran abandon uranium enrichment, and talks between Iran and the 25-member bloc are focusing on how Tehran can give other guarantees that its nuclear program is peaceful, a senior Iranian negotiator said Saturday.

“It is quite clear that for the Europeans the abandoning or cessation (of uranium enrichment) is not even on the negotiating table,” said Syrus Nasseri, who led the Iranian team that met with representatives of the EU “big three” Britain, France and Germany this week in Geneva.

The United States backs the EU’s offer of trade and other incentives to Iran in return for a halt to enrichment, a fuel process that could also provide Tehran’s clerical regime with the capacity to build a bomb.

The United States, which charges that Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons, has said however that the deal would be off if Iran does not dismantle its enrichment facilities.

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