PARIS - European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana called for an effort of mutual understanding to resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme, before launching more formal negotiations with Tehran, according to an interview to appear in a French newspaper Sunday.
"For the moment we must make an effort at understanding one's and the other's positions," Solana told the Journal de Dimanche.
He is set to meet next week with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, after Tehran on Thursday failed to meet a UN Security Council deadline to halt its uranium enrichment work.
While Iran maintains that its nuclear activity is for peaceful purposes, and not as the United States and others suspect for creating an atomic weapon, Tehran has not responded to some questions about the nature of its nuclear programme, according to the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency.
"We have to know exactly what is the nature of its nuclear programme and obtain guarantees," Solana told the newspaper.
"If the meeting (with Larijani) goes well and Iran accepts the idea of a programme of cooperation that we presented ... in June, I believe that we can begin more formal negotiations," Solana said.
Solana's talks with Larijani are meant to "clarify" sections of a 21-page Iranian response to an incentives deal, which also includes an offer to relaunch talks.
09/02/2006 16:49 GMT