Talks Between Europe and Iran End Without a Deal, more Talks To Follow.

REUTERS, Berlin, September 28, 2006: European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he had failed to reach any deal with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator at talks on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions on Thursday, but had laid the ground for further discussions.

“We have been progressing,” Solana told reporters after discussions with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.

“We still have some issues that have not been closed,” he said without elaborating. Solana said he hoped to renew contact with the Iranians in the middle of next week.

In June the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China offered Tehran a package of economic and political incentives if it suspended uranium enrichment, which the West believes is part of a nuclear weapons programme.

Tehran says its uranium enrichment activities are aimed solely at generating electricity and has refused to halt them. It was not immediately clear if Iran’s position had changed after the meeting.

The Washington Times reported earlier this week that Iran was close to a deal that would include a temporary, 90-day suspension of uranium enrichment and clear the way for negotiations on the details of the package.

Iran dismissed this report as propaganda.

But French officials said Larijani had offered to consider a temporary suspension at a meeting with Solana two weeks ago.

If Iran does not suspend enrichment, the United States and the “EU3″ have agreed to ask the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions on the Islamic republic. China and Russia oppose sanctions and would prefer to reopen negotiations with Iran.

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ENTER WARREN BUFFETT WITH A GOOD IDEA.
Mr. Buffett’s Excellent Idea, New York Times Editorial, September 28, 2006.

At the center of the current showdown with Iran is one chilling technical fact: The same technology that can make fuel for a nuclear reactor can also make the core of a nuclear bomb.

Add to that the legal fact that the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty guarantees all members in good standing the right to make their own reactor fuel and you have a pretty good idea why the United States and Europe are having such a tough time blocking Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Enter Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor and philanthropist. He is pledging $50 million for a fuel bank — run by the International Atomic Energy Agency — to be a supplier of last resort for any country that chooses not to get into the risky reactor fuel business and gets the I.A.E.A. seal of approval.

Right now countries can argue — sincerely or not — that without their own fuel plants they can be easily blackmailed by foreign suppliers with whom they have political disagreements. Iran has been caught lying about its nuclear program too often to believe that all it wants is reactor fuel. But its talk of nuclear cartels still gets a sympathetic hearing from many of the nuclear have-nots.

Mr. Buffett, who is working with the nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative, headed by former Senator Sam Nunn, is a man who understands leverage. He won’t kick in his $50 million unless some government or governments ante up $100 million in cash or fuel. And the project has to come together within two years or he will take his money off the table.

In early 2004, President Bush rightly called for a ban on all new sales of sensitive nuclear fuel technology. But the idea has gone nowhere, with the have-nots charging discrimination and even friends like Argentina, Australia and South Africa talking about getting into the business.

American officials publicly welcomed Mr. Buffett’s proposal as one way to persuade countries that they don’t need to make their own fuel. But there’s no talk of matching his largess. The White House — which has long criticized the I.A.E.A. for not being tough enough on Iran — is not eager to give the agency more power.

Instead, the administration has joined with Russia and four other major fuel producers to offer overlapping supply guarantees, with each promising to make up for the others’ possible shortfall. That’s a start. But we suspect that any plan that has governments — rather than the more neutral I.A.E.A. — offering guarantees won’t calm suspicions or take away Iran’s excuse.

More than 50 years ago, President Eisenhower first proposed setting up an international nuclear fuel bank, the original concept for the I.A.E.A. Washington would do well to take a harder look at Mr. Buffett’s — and Mr. Eisenhower’s — excellent idea. And then come up with the cash.