Iran Tells EU To Back Down At Nuclear Talks

8 March 2005 -- Iranian officials today threatened to break off negotiations with a trio of European Union countries if the Europeans continue to insist that Tehran abandon all sensitive nuclear activities.

Sirus Naseri, a senior member of Iran's negotiating team, told Iran state television that without a compromise there would be no point in further negotiations.

His comments come as a fresh round of talks got under way in Geneva aimed at working out a resolution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear program. Washington says the program is a front to build atomic weapons, but Tehran denies that.

The European trio, consisting of France, Germany, and Britain, says Iran must provide "objective guarantees" that it is not pursuing atomic weapons.

(Reuters)