EU nuclear talks next week crucial, says Iran

TEHRAN - Talks this week between Iran and the European Union will show once and for all whether the two sides can reach agreement on Tehran's nuclear activities, Iran's Foreign Ministry said.

"The Geneva meeting will show whether we can reach a result with the Europeans," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news conference.

"Iran will no longer accept the policy of wasting time and finding excuses," he said.

Iran has raised the stakes ahead of the meeting in Geneva on Wednesday by threatening to resume processing uranium into a gas which could be used to make nuclear reactor fuel or bomb-grade material.

Iran says its nuclear ambitions are restricted to generating electricity and not nuclear bombs.

The European Union has said it would back US calls for Iran's case to be referred to the UN Security Council for stiffer actions to be taken against Tehran if nuclear work which was suspended in November resumes.

Iran says its decision to resume activities at the uranium fuel conversion plant in the central city of Isfahan cannot be reversed.

But Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani, who will lead the Iranian delegation in the Geneva talks with the foreign ministers of Britain, Germany and France, told Reuters last week Iran may delay resuming work at Isfahan for a few weeks.

"Restarting Isfahan's facility is an irreversible decision and we will do it anyway," Asefi said. "If we can do it based on an agreement it will be better.

"We cannot predict the outcome of this meeting, let's see what the Europeans are going to say," he said.

- REUTERS