11 March 2005 -- Great Britain, France, and Germany, said today they will support referring Iran to the UN Security Council if it resumes uranium enrichment or breaches nuclear commitments.
The three European powers said in a letter to Luxembourg -- the current EU president -- that progress in negotiations with Iran are going more slowly than had been hoped. The European powers opened talks in December attempting to persuade Iran to cease uranium-enrichment and -reprocessing activities.
In the United States, meanwhile, two leading U.S. newspapers quote unnamed senior U.S. officials as saying the administration of President George W. Bush has agreed to offer modest economic incentives if Iran permanently abandons its uranium-enrichment activities.
This indicates the positions of Europe and the United States are drawing closer together. The United States had previously opposed offering Iran any incentives and the Europeans had resisted threatening penalties.
(Reuters/AFP/"The New York Times"/"The Washington Post")
In the United States, meanwhile, two leading U.S. newspapers quote unnamed senior U.S. officials as saying the administration of President George W. Bush has agreed to offer modest economic incentives if Iran permanently abandons its uranium-enrichment activities.
This indicates the positions of Europe and the United States are drawing closer together. The United States had previously opposed offering Iran any incentives and the Europeans had resisted threatening penalties.
(Reuters/AFP/"The New York Times"/"The Washington Post")