The European Union held its highest-level meeting with...

The European Union held its highest-level meeting with Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, pressing for new economic ties in defiance of America's insistence on sanctions against companies investing there.
Chris Patten, the European commissioner for external affairs, said he had raised issues including "freedom of the press, concern about the way some political opponents have been dealt with, and about capital punishment and public executions". EU officials said any trade accord would include a clause on human rights.
Kamal Kharrazi, the Iranian Foreign Minister, was careful not to reject that prospect, saying that human rights should not be dealt with "selectively".