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Russia, Iran want nuke issue kept in IAEA
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-25 09:12
Russia's national security chief and Iran's top nuclear negotiator said
Tuesday that Tehran's nuclear standoff must be resolved by diplomatic efforts in
the U.N. atomic watchdog agency.
The Kremlin statement reflected Russia's efforts to delay Iran's referral to
the U.N. Security Council and Moscow's opposition to international sanctions
against Tehran.
"Both sides expressed their desire to solve the issue in a diplomatic way
within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency," Russia's
Security Council said in a statement after the meeting between council chief
Igor Ivanov and Ali Larijani of Iran.
The meeting came after Iran warned that IAEA referral to the U.N. Security
Council over its nuclear ambitions would lead it to move forward with a
full-scale uranium enrichment program, a possible precursor to making atomic
weapons.
High-level diplomacy has intensified with little more than a week until the
Feb. 2 meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board.
Moscow has proposed having Iran's uranium enriched in Russia, then returned
to Iran for use in the country's reactors — a compromise that could provide more
oversight and ease tensions. Haggling has continued over the specifics of the
proposal, including Tehran's proposal to have China involved in the Russian
enrichment process.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw urged Tehran on Tuesday to seriously
consider Russia's offer to enrich Iran's uranium in an effort to end the
standoff.
Straw also said in an interview with The Associated Press that he hoped the
IAEA would refer the matter to the Security Council.
The West fears Iran wants to develop a nuclear bomb but Tehran says its
intentions are peaceful and that it wants only civilian nuclear energy.
The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Iranian Ambassador Gholamreza Ansari as
saying that Iran was waiting for "several clarifications" from Moscow regarding
the Russian proposal.
Larijani said Iran was ready for compromise, but dismissed Western concerns
about the country's nuclear activities.
"We have not closed the path to compromise," he said in a televised interview
in Tehran with the British Broadcasting Corp. before his departure. "Talks in
which they want to impose certain pressures will not be constructive."
"I am surprised they are so sensitive about nuclear research in Iran," he
said, according to an English translation of his comments. "We've said this
before. Our research is on a laboratory scale, a small scale. If they want
guarantees of no diversion of nuclear fuel, we can reach a formula acceptable to
both sides in talks."
Iran removed IAEA seals from equipment Jan. 10, ending a 15-month moratorium,
and announced it would restart experiments including what it described as
small-scale enrichment. The move led lead negotiators Germany, Britain and
France to call for the Feb. 2 emergency board session.
European countries believe they have enough votes to haul Iran before the
Security Council but they want broad support including Russia, China and key
developing nations.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that "referral
absolutely has to be made" on Feb. 2, while remaining vague on what action she
thought the Security Council should take, and when.
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