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Iran to reconsider Russian offer
14/3/2006 10:49

A top Iranian security official said in Tehran yesterday that in light of the new situation, Iran would reconsider a Russian proposal made to defuse the Iranian nuclear crisis.

"Moscow's plan to enrich uranium in Russ ia for Iran should be reconsidered by Iranian officials in light of the new developments," Hossein Entezami, spokesman of the Supreme National Security Council, was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

Russia proposed last December that Iran transfer its uranium enrichment to the Russian territory, holding that the offer would secure Iran's legal nuclear rights while guaranteeing the peaceful use of the technology.

Entezami said that Tehran would welcome any solution which helps remove the dispute on the country's nuclear program, but "only those talks which will observe rights of all parties will be seen reasonable by Iran".

Meanwhile, Russia's nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko in Moscow said that the compromise proposal still holds.

Entezami's comments came one day after Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi announced that the Russian proposal would no longer be on the agenda of Tehran due to "change of the situation".

But he retracted the statement several hours later by saying that the offer was "still negotiable if it takes Iran's right to enrich uranium on a research scale at home".

Iran had conditioned an acceptance of the offer on a permit of Iran's uranium enrichment on a small scale at home.

However, the United States and the European Union, who had expressed readiness to accept the Russian plan, insisted that Iran could not be allowed to do any enrichment work.

Entezami also said on Monday that Iran would be committed to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), defining the NPT as "a good international agreement".

He pointed out that the NPT was "based on two significant elements of disarmament and helping member states use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes", voicing regret that "the two valuable principles are being ignored by certain countries".

Entezami further reiterated that Tehran "has continuously given priority to hold talks and use diplomacy under any condition", warning that the way that Iran would appear in any future possible talks will "totally depend on" how Iran was dealt with on its peaceful nuclear program.

Due to Iran's rejection of returning to a moratorium on its enrichment-related activities, the International Atomic Energy Agency on Wednesday handed over its chief Mohamed ElBaradei's report on the Iranian nuclear issue to the U.N. Security Council soon after the agency's board of governors concluded a seasonal meeting.

Iran has denounced the involvement of the Security Council, vowing never to give in to pressures and bullies.



Xinhua News