IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS: Talks in Moscow aimed at ending tensions over Iran's nuclear programme finished without agreement last night, with Iran saying it would continue its atomic research.
Moscow had hoped to defuse the crisis with an offer to reprocess Iran's nuclear fuel rods, thus giving no excuse for Tehran to develop a technology that can be used to produce nuclear weapons.
But yesterday's talks, already delayed for a week by Iran, ended with no acceptance of the offer.
Meanwhile, in Brussels, Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki met with EU officials and declared that, even if a deal with Moscow was reached, nuclear research would continue.
"If we reach some compromise, we continue our preparation from where we are now, that is, the research department will continue its activity," he told reporters.
Officially, Russia remains optimistic about the negotiations, with Igor Ivanov, the secretary of Russia's security council, saying the talks would resume, although he could give no date.
Russia says its offer would allow Iran to do what it insists it wants - to develop nuclear power for peaceful uses, but without the option to develop weapons.
By handling the enrichment of Iranian fuel rods, Moscow would remove the need for Iran to develop its own enrichment processes, as well as getting credit for defusing an international crisis.
While officials spoke of numerous technical hurdles, the truth is that Russia is hugely experienced in uranium enrichment and would have little difficulty in supplying Iran with such fuel rods.
Russian foreign minister Sergie Lavrov insisted the Russian offer remained open, and said: "Negotiations with the Iranian delegation in Moscow are still in progress." However, his statement to Russian president Vladimir Putin that he had only "modest expectations" from the talks indicated that Moscow despairs of a breakthrough.
Western diplomats say Iran is unlikely to give up the option of producing nuclear weapons until it has seen whether the UN is united enough to threaten sanctions.
Few expect a breakthrough before March 6th, when the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) meets in New York to confirm that Iran is in breach of monitoring agreements. Only then will the UN Security Council meet to discuss punitive sanctions.
Mr Mottaki held inconclusive trade talks yesterday in Brussels with EU nations, but these were dominated by complaints about the cut to trade with Denmark over the Muslim cartoons row.
In an olive branch to the European Union, Mr Mottaki, meeting with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, offered the prospect that IAEA inspectors might be allowed back into his country, possibly in exchange for a lifting of trade barriers.
However, these inspections will be rendered largely pointless by the fact that Iran will begin research that can be used for weapon production.
There is real anxiety in the Kremlin about the possibility of Iran, which already has short-range missiles, building nuclear warheads it could launch at Middle Eastern neighbours including Israel.
Part of this anxiety is the fear of Middle Eastern turmoil following recent statements by Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, denying the Holocaust and stating that a key foreign policy objective of his administration is the destruction of Israel.
But the Kremlin, which hopes to build on good relations with Iran as a trading partner, has opposed early talk of sanctions.
A trade freeze would oblige Russia to halt work on the billion-dollar nuclear reactor it is building in Iran and would also call a halt to its sale of advanced anti-aircraft missiles.
Iran insists it has no interest in nuclear weapons, apparently even for its planned destruction of Israel, and wants nuclear power for peaceful purposes.
Speaking after a 90-minute meeting with Mr Mottaki, Mr Solana said: "They have to be much more constructive." He added that he had told Mr Mottaki that the EU would wait to see what progress was made by Tehran in its talks with Russia before a key meeting of the UN's atomic energy agency in Vienna, on March 6th.