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Iran Nuclear Weapons

March 6, 2012 by · Comments Off on Iran Nuclear Weapons 

Iran Nuclear Weapons, The EU said Tuesday that world powers have agreed to a new round of talks with Iran over its nuclear program, and Iran gave permission for inspectors to visit a site suspected of secret atomic work.

The two developments appeared to counter somewhat the crisis atmosphere over Iran’s nuclear development program, the focus of talks in Washington between President Barack Obama and Israel’s visiting prime minister.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany agreed to a new round of nuclear talks with Iran. Previous talks have not achieved what the powers want – an end to uranium enrichment on Iranian soil. The last round of negotiations in January 2011 ended in failure.

The U.S. and its allies believe Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran denies that, insisting that its program is for peaceful purposes.

Ashton said in a statement that the EU hopes that Iran “will now enter into a sustained process of constructive dialogue which will deliver real progress in resolving the international community’s long-standing concerns on its nuclear program.”

The time and venue of the new talks have not been set.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement that the onus would “be on Iran to convince the international community that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.”

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called for a diplomatic solution. “A nuclear-armed Iran must be prevented,” he said.

Ashton was responding to a February letter from Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, in which he proposed new discussions.

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