EU grapples with double bind over Iran as capture of Britons appends to nuclear standoff

The Associated Press, BREMEN, Germany, March 30: European Union foreign ministers grappled on Saturday with a double bind over Iran: the drawn-out crisis over the country’s nuclear enrichment program, complicated by Tehran’s week-old seizure of 15 British sailors and marines.

The ministers debated a renewed offer from six world powers to talk with Tehran about its nuclear ambitions that EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana made in a telephone conversation this week with Ali Larijani, Tehran’s top nuclear negotiator.

That was the first exchange between representatives of Iran and the international community since the U.N. Security Council toughened its sanctions against Iran sanctions because of Tehran’s refusal to freeze uranium enrichment.

The nuclear issue has become more complicated with the March 23 seizure of 15 British sailors and marines.

Meeting in Bremen Friday, the EU foreign ministers demanded the crew’s immediate and unconditional release, warning of “appropriate measures” if Tehran does not comply with the demand.

Solana said Friday that “we want to resolve the two issues, that of the British citizens and the greater one of the nuclear issue.” He said he would contact the Iranian leadership “in the coming days, in the coming hours” over the capturing of the naval personnel.

An exiled Iranian opposition group claimed that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had ordered their abduction by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

A statement by Mohammad Mohaddessin, who handles foreign affairs for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said the clerical government “has turned hostage-taking and blackmail a lucrative business and an instrument of its foreign policy.”

It was not possible to independently verify Mohaddessin’s claim, but the group has provided relatively accurate information on developments in Iran over the past several years, including details on the country’s secretive nuclear program.

In a statement Friday, the EU ministers called on Iran to “immediately inform” the British government about the whereabouts of the captives and give British diplomats access to them — a British request that Iran so far has denied.

They added that “all evidence clearly indicates that at the time of the seizure, the British naval personnel were on a routine patrolling mission in Iraqi waters” in accordance with a United Nations mandate. “The European Union repeats its call for the immediate and unconditional release of the British Royal Naval personnel,” the statement said.

On the nuclear issue, the five permanent U.N. Security Council members — the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China — plus Germany insist Tehran must freeze its nuclear enrichment before any talks can begin on a package of economic and other incentives, including assistance for its nuclear power generation program.

Iran has remained defiant. Last Sunday, it announced it was partially suspending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency — the U.N. nuclear watchdog — by revoking a pledge to inform it of any plans to build new nuclear facilities.

That could theoretically make it easier for Tehran to construct a secret uranium enrichment plant that would be safe from any Israeli or U.S. attack. Enrichment can be used for nuclear weapons as well as generation of power.