European Nations See Value in Continued Dialogue with Iran

The foreign ministers of the European Union have decided to continue what they call their “critical dialogue” with Iran.

The decision comes in the wake of repeated American and Israeli calls to isolate Iran as a rogue state because of its support for terrorism.

At Monday’s meeting here, the 15 E.U. ministers, some of whose countries have trade links with Iran, agreed to continue the 3-year-old dialogue with the Islamic republic.

Defending their decision, the ministers repeated their long-held stance that this would be a more productive way for moderating Iranian policy than any ostracism of Tehran.

German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel told reporters after the meeting that no one at the meeting had spoken in favor of an end to the dialogue with Iran.

But his Irish counterpart, Gay Mitchell, was quoted as saying that not all the E.U. ministers were persuaded of the effectiveness of the policy.

“We would like to see more results of this dialogue,” Mitchell said.

According to Kinkel, the ministers would like to see Iran actively commit itself to the Middle East peace process, reduce its support for militant groups and recognize Palestinian autonomy under the leadership of Yasser Arafat.

He also said the European Union would like to see Tehran act to stop Shi’ite Hezbollah militants from launching attacks against Israel from Lebanon.

At an informal meeting last month in Palermo, Italy, days after Hamas terrorists carried out a string of suicide bombings in Israel, the E.U. ministers hinted that they would reconsider their dialogue with Iran if it did not condemn all acts of terrorism.

Earlier this month, the European ministers sent a delegation to Tehran to discuss the issue with Iranian authorities.

Iranian officials said at the time that they rejected terrorism. But they did not condemn the Hamas attacks.