The European Union is considering regional security guarantees to Iran if
Teheran agrees to abandon sensitive nuclear activities, the French foreign
ministry said Friday.
The offer would be made by the European troika comprising France, Germany and
Great Britain at the meeting of the six countries, that is,
China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia and United States, on May 19 in
London, according to French Foreign Ministry's spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei.
Besides economic measures and other steps, security guarantees would be
offered to Iran so that it would have access to civilian nuclear power for
peaceful purposes if it renounced activities suspected of creating a nuclear
weapon capability, said the spokesman.
"Ideas are also under consideration about what kind of securityguarantees
could be given to Iran taking into account the regionaldimension," he said.
To the question on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's call on Washington to
open direct dialogue with Iran, Mattei said it was for the Americans to decide.
According to the French spokesman, Paris favors Washington's involvement in
the negotiation with Iran.
"It is important that the United States would be associated to the work that
is led by the Europeans on the positive offer to made to Iran," he said.