VIENNA, 25 November 2005 — The UN nuclear watchdog’s governors broadly agree it is better to explore a Russian compromise over Iran’s nuclear activities than to report Tehran to the Security Council, Western board members said yesterday.
A draft statement incorporating this position was submitted by the European Union’s three biggest powers — France, Britain and Germany — to the chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board as it began a two-day meeting.
“There is a broad consensus not to allow Iran in the present circumstances conducting enrichment-related activities on its soil,” said the draft of a statement, obtained by Reuters, to be read by the IAEA board chairman at the end of the meeting.
The EU draft text makes no mention of previous threats to refer Tehran to the Security Council for possible sanctions, which the United States and EU had been pushing for months.
Diplomats said a decision by the EU and the United States not to push for referral at the meeting had averted a potential clash with Russia and China, which oppose any such move.
Rarely united previously, they and the Western powers, along with developing countries such as India and South Africa, now seem to agree Russia’s proposal offers the best route forward.
Moscow has suggested letting Tehran conduct less-sensitive uranium processing in Iran and shifting the converted material to Russia, where a Russian-Iranian joint venture would handle the critical enrichment process. Enrichment can yield fuel for nuclear power stations or bomb-grade uranium fuel.
However, Iran has made clear it intends to pursue uranium enrichment on its own soil, and Tehran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said this would be the main topic of any future discussions with the Europeans and Russians.
“The next talks will be about the enrichment program and there must be a framework and a deadline for talks, because without such things, negotiations will be fruitless,” he told Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency.
