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Iranian Pushes Nuclear Talks Back to Square One

[New York Times] Elaine Sciolino - In a sign that Iran has hardened its position on its nuclear program, its new nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, said in talks in London on Friday that all proposals made in past negotiations were irrelevant and that further discussion of a curb on Iran's uranium enrichment was unnecessary, senior officials briefed on the meeting said. Representatives of the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany met in Paris on Saturday to discuss further punitive Security Council measures against Iran after the London talks failed to produce a breakthrough. The London meeting was the first time that Jalili, a close ally of President Ahmadinejad, had led negotiations on the Iranian side. The first hour and a half of the meeting was described as a monologue, with Jalili speaking about the will of the Iranian people to support uranium enrichment, theology, God, and even his doctoral thesis. "Jalili said, 'Everything in the past is past, and with me, you start over,'" an official said. "He said, 'None of your proposals has any standing.'"
2007-12-03 01:00:00
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