VIENNA - EU negotiators are not insisting that Iran abandon uranium enrichment, and talks between Iran and the 25-member bloc are focusing on how Tehran can give other guarantees that its nuclear program is peaceful, a senior Iranian negotiator said Saturday.
"It is quite clear that for the Europeans the abandoning or cessation (of uranium enrichment) is not even on the negotiating table," said Syrus Nasseri, who led the Iranian team that met with representatives of the EU "big three" Britain, France and Germany this week in Geneva.
The United States backs the EU's offer of trade and other incentives to Iran in return for a halt to enrichment, a fuel process that could also provide Tehran's clerical regime with the capacity to build a bomb.
The United States, which charges that Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons, has said however that the deal would be off if Iran does not dismantle its enrichment facilities.
But Nasseri told AFP: "What we are negotiating (with the European trio) is to seek ways that the Europeans can have additional assurances on our fuel production."
Nasseri, speaking by telephone before leaving Vienna for Tehran, said both sides "are trying to have a compromise agreement.
"It is a possibility to discuss the extent and level of (nuclear) capacity we would pursue. The basis could be on the ground of the level of enrichment and the extent of enrichment," he said, without elaborating.
Officials from the European trio were not immediately available for comment.
03/12/2005 14:45 GMT