French foreign minister: Low expectations for Iran talks

Jul 17, 2008, 14:16 GMT

Vienna - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has only low expectations for upcoming talks with Iran on solving the nuclear standoff, he said during a visit in Vienna on Thursday.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will talk with Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeid Jalili in Geneva on Saturday, on ways to enter into full negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme and cooperation in a wide range of areas.

Senior representatives of Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia, and the United States will also participate in the talks.

'Let's put it this way: I foster great hopes for these talks, but I have only low expectations,' Kouchner said after a meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik.

UN resolutions and sanctions, aimed at coercing Iran into suspending its nuclear activities, have not led to any results, Kouchner said.

While Iran maintains its right to build a civilian nuclear programme, the other six countries at the talks are concerned that Tehran might one day use its nuclear facilities to make atomic weapons.

'Of course Iran is a great country with a great history and culture, and Tehran should take its legitimate place in the world,' he said.

'The result of Paris' talks with Tehran has always been nil,' the French foreign minister added.

The new round of talks in Geneva is aimed at finding a way to begin negotiations on two package proposals that both sides have presented in the past months.

While Iran wants to keep enriching uranium during full negotiations, the other six countries set a suspension of nuclear activities as a precondition for further talks.

While Kouchner's outlook for the Geneva talks is shared in diplomatic circles, diplomats see it as a positive sign that the US will participate in such talks for the first time.

In the past weeks, there have been indications that Washington is changing its hard-line stance towards Tehran.

Last week, US Under Secretary of State William Burns, who will attend the Geneva talks, hinted that Washington is considering opening a diplomatic mission in Tehran for the first time in 30 years.

Opening a so-called interest section 'is an interesting concept that is worth looking at carefully,' Burns told the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee.