Agence France Presse – French officials confirmed Friday that foreign ministers from the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany would meet next week in Paris to discuss the standoff with Iran over its nuclear programme.
The gathering, next Wednesday, would follow talks in Brussels involving EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, senior British, French, German and Russian officials and Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani on Tuesday.
French foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said Solana would join the foreign ministers from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States for the UN "five plus one" talks in Paris.
The meeting "will allow the ministers to state their positions" in the light of an enlarged international offer of political and economic incentives to Iran in exchange for it suspending uranium enrichment, Mattei said.
Solana’s spokeswoman said in Brussels that talks late Thursday between Solana and Larijani had made a "good start" and laid the groundwork for next week’s follow-up discussions.
Iran faces the threat of UN Security Council action if it rejects the international offer.
Europe and the United States fear Tehran is seeking to build a nuclear weapon under the cover of its nuclear energy programme — something Iran denies. The Islamic state has pushed on with uranium enrichment activities.
Solana has urged Iran to give a clear response to the offer before July 15, when leaders of the Group of Eight major industrial powers meet in Saint Petersburg to discuss the issue.
But Iran’s President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has said that no response to the incentives would be given before August.
