Brussels, 10/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - The EU3 (the UK, France and Germany) and the United States are prepared to let Iran carry out the first stage of making nuclear fuel, suggest IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) officials in Vienna. The IAEA proposal (which needs wide international backing from countries like China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa before the compromise can be presented to Teheran) would let Iran convert uranium ore into the uranium hexafluoride gas that is the feedstock for making enriched uranium, which can be fuel for nuclear power reactors but also the explosive core of atom bombs. The gas would then be taken to Russia for enrichment rather than Iran, which Russia agrees to. The idea was discussed on Tuesday by US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei, who agrees to submit the plan to Iran as long as it has a real chance of being accepted there. The IAEA said on Thursday: 'Dr ElBaradei hopes that in the coming days, the international community will be able to coalesce around a solution that is acceptable to all parties including Iran'.
On Tuesday, Iran rejected the invitation of the EU's General Affairs and External Relations Council on Monday (see EUROPE 9063) for Iran to suspend all uranium conversion to restore confidence and facilitate the resumption of negotiations. Various articles of the statement were drafted with extremist views and I oppose them, said Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on Tuesday, while the Iranian foreign minister said that Iran wanted to continue its uranium conversion programme (the procedure proceedings enrichment, see above).
In Moscow on Wednesday, after a meeting between the EU's ministerial troika and the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, the President of the Council of the EU, UK foreign minister Jack Straw, played for time on when asked about sending Iran to the UN Security Council over its nuclear programme. On behalf of the EU and the EU3, I would like to say that we do not want the Iran nuclear issue to be sent to the Security Council, said Jack Straw.