EU-Iran: The crisis continues

France has rejected suggestions that it could break the deadlock over Tehran’s nuclear programme by enriching uranium.

Senior French officials have expressed surprise at the announcement made by Tehran on Tuesday.

Paris says the comments made by a senior Iranian official were designed to drive a wedge between Britain, France and the US, who are increasing pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear programme.

Speaking in Cairo after meeting foreign ministers from eight Arab states, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice agreed that Iran’s latest proposals on enriching uranium abroad were a stalling technique.

“I hope there is still room to resolve this,” she told reporters on Tuesday.

“But the international community is running out of time, because soon its credibility will be in question.”

Tension increased further on Tuesday as the UK and US threatened to push for targeted sanctions against Iran.

A UK official told reporters that sanctions were back on the table after the latest round of EU-led negotiations with Iran had failed to produce a breakthrough.

The official said Iran had informed EU foreign politcy chief Javier Solana that it would not abide by UN demands for a suspension of uranium enrichment.

Nicholas Burns, under-secretary at the US state department, said Washington wanted to see a more positive reaction to EU-led proposals from Iran’s chief negotiator Ali Larijani.

“If Iran says ‘maybe’ then that means no. If it says ‘we would like to continue talks’, that means we will have been talking for more than four months.”

“There comes a time when you have to put an end to it.”

But finding consensus at the UN will not be easy for Washington and London.

Russia and China - other UN veto-wielding members - have yet agreed to the specific measures against Iran and are opposed to a confrontational approach.

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