Keen to get Iran back for talks on the controversial nuclear issue, the EU-3 on Thursday said it was not looking at sanctions and saw an "important" role for India to help find a way to end the current impasse.
"We don't want a policy of confrontation and sanctions and will keep our doors open for negotiations (with Iran)," Michael Schaefer, political director in the German foreign office, who is leading a delegation of EU-3 comprising Germany, France and Britain, told a group of reporters in New Delhi.
India, he said, has an "enormously important role" to play as an important neighbour and partner of Iran and as a key country of the region in addressing this "very complex issue."
The EU-3, which have been trying to win guarantees that Iran will not use its atomic energy drive as a cover for weapons development, has called for an emergency meeting of IAEA on February 2 in response to Iran's resumption of uranium enrichment research early this month.
In the wake of intense pressure mounted by the US and the European Union for referring Tehran to the UN Security Council, Iran has said it was ready to compromise over its atomic programme.
{{/usCountry}}In the wake of intense pressure mounted by the US and the European Union for referring Tehran to the UN Security Council, Iran has said it was ready to compromise over its atomic programme.
{{/usCountry}}"We are willing to discuss concerns about an alleged weapons programme and offer guarantees," Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijan told the BBC last night.
However, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltaneih threatened to withdraw cooperation with international nuclear inspectors if a decision was taken to refer it to Security Council, a move that could lead to international sanctions.