Plassnik: Iran should return to the negotiating table

"We hope it will be possible today to finalise an offer from the international community that will enable Iran to return to the negotiating table. We are all working together on a diplomatic solution�, Plassnik stated.

She said the offer would contain economic and political incentives and enable Iran to use nuclear energy exclusively for peaceful purposes. �We have never denied Iran the right to a nuclear programme that exclusively serves the purpose of generating energy. However, this requires Iran to restore the necessary basis of trust and provide convincing guarantees of the transparency and verifiability of its programme. We must have absolute certainty that the Iranian nuclear programme is not a weapons programme", Plassnik stressed.

�Today is a day that will determine the future course of relations between the international community and Iran. I hope Iran will recognise the importance of these international efforts and respond in an open-minded, positive fashion. The international community is untied on this issue. We fully support the efforts of the EU-3. Iran should grasp the hand extended to it and return to the negotiating table�, she continued. �This could also facilitate the development of a perspective for the future after decades of �non-relations� between Iran and the USA."

Plassnik concluded by remarking that the fact  this important meeting had been held in Vienna once again highlighted the role of the city as a headquarters of UN organisations, an international meeting place and a centre of dialogue.