Russia, Iran To Hold More Nuke Talks

Iran Tries To Avoid Threat Of International Sanctions

(AP) 
The top Iranian negotiator, Ali Hosseinitash, deputy secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said he believed an agreement was possible. He cautioned, however, against linking the Russian plan to demands for Iran to restore a freeze on uranium enrichment, Russian news agencies reported.

"The negotiations with Russia do not foresee any preconditions," Hosseinitash said, according to ITAR-Tass. He added that there was no link "between the moratorium on uranium enrichment and talks on the Russian plan."

Mottaki said in Brussels that Tehran was looking for a "peaceful solution" to the impasse and was ready to listen to "new ideas."

"We express our readiness for negotiations based on justice and a comprehensive compromise. We want to peacefully solve the problem," he said after talks with Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht.

"We believe that the time of threats is over. The (U.N.) Security Council should not be considered as a tool of some countries ... We are here to hear any new plans, any new proposal, any new ideas."

The Iranians have blown hot and cold over Moscow's initiative, under which Iran's enrichment activities would take place on Russian soil to ensure no uranium is diverted for nuclear weapons. Enrichment is a process that can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or material for a warhead.

The Russian foreign minister said Iran could conduct all nuclear activities on its own soil once the IAEA had resolved its concerns about the Iranian nuclear program.

Lavrov said last week the Russian proposal is conditional on Iran giving up all enrichment activity, including small-scale efforts it started last week. The EU and the United States also insist that Tehran reimpose a freeze on all enrichment.

Analysts said a concrete result likely would emerge from further talks later in the week, when the head of Russia's atomic energy agency, Sergei Kiriyenko, visits Iran.

Experts have said Iran would like its scientists to have access to the Russian enrichment facility and hope to retain the right to conduct part of the enrichment process at home. But former Russian Atomic Energy Minister Viktor Mikhailov told the Vremya Novostei daily in Monday's editions that the entire facility would be off-limits to the Iranians.

IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei recently suggested that the international community might have no choice but to accept small-scale enrichment on Iranian soil as a condition for Tehran to agree to move its full program abroad, a diplomat familiar with ElBaradei's position said Sunday on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Iranian presidential spokesman Gholamhossein Elham, speaking in a news conference Monday, welcomed the IAEA proposal on small-scale enrichment inside Iran as a "positive step" toward resolving the dispute but said any restrictions on Tehran's right to access nuclear energy were unacceptable.