Iran on Monday termed as positive but not desirable a recent UN
nuclear watchdog's proposal of allowing it to conduct small-scale
uranium enrichment work, the official IRNA news agency
reported.
"The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) proposal on
small-scale enrichment inside Iran is a positive step towards
resolving the nuclear issue but is not what Iran desires,"
government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham was quoted as saying.
It was reported that Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA Director General,
has recently expressed worry that it would be hard to reach a
compromise on Iran's nuclear issue unless the Islamic Republic is
allowed to conduct small-scale enrichment work.
According to ElBaradei, a deal could be made by permitting Iran
to operate a pilot enrichment plant for small-scale work in
exchange for Tehran's withdrawal from industrial-scale enrichment.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Saturday hailed
ElBaradei's suggestion as "a step forward", saying that Iran
welcomed friends' positive view toward the issue of enrichment
inside Iran.
Elham on Monday also re-stressed that Iran's legal right to get
access to peaceful nuclear energy was undeniable based on the
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and other international
treaties which Iran signed.
"To renounce this right at any level would cross the red line.
We are not authorized to stop at this point but should take all
measures to defend our rights," the spokesman said.
Elham's comments came as Iranian and Russian negotiators kicked
off a key round of talks in Moscow over a Russian proposal to
establish a joint venture in Russia to enrich uranium for Iran.
Mottaki arrived in Brussels, Belgium, early Monday for talks with
European diplomats including Javier Solana, the European Union (EU)
foreign policy chief.
However, Mottaki and other negotiators rejected a recent call of
Russia to re-suspend the resumed nuclear activities.
The nuclear negotiations between Iran and the EU were paralyzed
after Tehran defiantly resumed nuclear research work on Jan. 10 and
sent ambiguous messages on the Russian proposal.
The situation further escalated due to Iran's recent resumption
of small-scale uranium enrichment work and prohibition of IAEA's
snap inspections, a retaliative measure against IAEA's resolution
on Feb. 4 to report Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security
Council.
The IAEA resolution also urges the Security Council not to take
actions on Iran before its meeting on March 6, referring to
economic sanctions.
(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2006)
