BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP): The European Union’s chief negotiator in the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program will consult with the bloc’s foreign ministers Monday about whether to push for new sanctions to try to force Tehran to stop enriching uranium.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will brief the 27 ministers on the bloc’s options, as France and Britain argue for new penalties to push Iran to stop enrichment work, which they fear could be aimed at producing weapons.
Alvaro Mendonca e Moura, Portugal’s EU ambassador, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said Solana would outline steps the bloc could take.
An October foreign ministers’ meeting failed to agree on new sanctions.
"We said we would consider what additional measures we might take in order to support the U.N. process," Mendonca e Moura said.
He also said Solana was preparing for the possibility of another meeting with Iran’s nuclear negotiators, but that a meeting had not yet been confirmed.
Talks planned for Monday in Brussels among representatives of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany had to be put off because China, which opposes toughening sanctions, said it would not attend.
Explaining the cancellation, an EU official said last week only that the Chinese informed them that they had scheduling problems.
However, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack suggested last week that Beijing was blocking plans for a new meeting.
France’s foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, has sought to persuade his EU counterparts to support European sanctions outside of the United Nations. He has failed to win widespread support and faces opposition, notably from Germany, which has extensive trade interests in Iran.
Speaking in Jerusalem Sunday, Kouchner said France’s position on Iran was unchanged. "They have the right to set up civilian nuclear power … but we are not ready to accept an atomic bomb," he said.
