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.