Sweden's Carl Bildt looks to Iran talks
BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Union must await the results of the upcoming nuclear talks with Iran before weighing any threat of future sanctions, the bloc's Swedish presidency said Monday.
"The focus now should be on that particular meeting," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told reporters. "Exactly what will happen after that is somewhat dependent on what happens in the talks."
"We'll have to look at the Iranian answer and see if we can go somewhat more concretely into the different details that need to be discussed," he said, ahead of talks with his EU counterparts in Brussels.
France in particular has been pushing a tough line against Iran.
Earlier Monday, Iran and major world powers agreed to hold talks on October 1, as the West seeks to persuade the Islamic republic to halt its sensitive nuclear activities in exchange for political and economic incentives.
The meeting was arranged after Iran submitted a document to the six powers laying out its position on resolving several global security problems. The text said Tehran was ready to enter into negotiations on a number of issues.
"It was not necessarily the most concrete document ever seen by mankind," Bildt noted drily.
The talks will involve EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and officials from the five UN Security Council veto-wielding members -- Britain, China, France, the United States and Russia -- plus Germany and Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili.
The venue has not yet been fixed.
Western powers fear Tehran could be covertly trying to build an atomic bomb under the guise of developing a civilian nuclear programme. Iran insists its work is for civil purposes.
Until now, the EU has had virtually no contact with Iranian officials involved in the nuclear dossier since the disputed presidential elections in Iran on June 12.
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Last Updated (Monday, 14 September 2009 18:21)
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