A senior Russian legislator yesterday criticized Iran for snubbing
Moscow's proposal to host its uranium enrichment program, the Interfax news
agency reported.
Konstantin Kosachev, head of the international affairs committee of the lower house of the Russian parliament, said
Iran's move had destroyed the only chance of a compromise in the nuclear
standoff.
He warned that Tehran's decision could "radicalize" a planned discussion of
the Iranian nuclear issue at the UN Security Council.
Earlier on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said
at his weekly news briefing that the Russian proposal, aimed to defuse the
current nuclear tension, would no longer be on the agenda in Tehran due to
"changes of the circumstances."
Russia proposed last December that Iran transfer its uranium enrichment to
Russian soil, in a move that could secure Iran's legal nuclear rights while
guaranteeing the peaceful use of the technology.
Iran suggested last month that it be allowed to enrich uranium on a small
scale at home in exchange for moving large-scale enrichment to Russia.
The United States and the European Union have expressed readiness to accept
the Russian compromise plan but have insisted that Iran could not be permitted
to do any enrichment work on its own territory.
Uranium enrichment is a key step in the nuclear fuel cycle, but highly
enriched uranium can be used for building nuclear weapons.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said Moscow would react to
Tehran's move after receiving a formal notice, Interfax said.