In a major concession, world powers are no longer demanding that Iran commit
to a prolonged moratorium on uranium enrichment and are now asking only for a
suspension during talks on its nuclear program, diplomats and officials said
Wednesday.
Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov, right, and former Palestinian Foreign Minister
Nabil Shaath seen during their meeting in Moscow, Wednesday, June 7, 2006.
Russia will only support sanctions against Iran if it violates the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty, Lavrov said Wednesday, apparently dampening
hopes of a united international front if Tehran rejects a compromise
package over its nuclear activities. [AP] |
The proposal and a connected offer to allow continued uranium conversion are
part of an effort to avoid a showdown over international concerns that the
Iranians are trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Backing off the previous stance on enrichment signals a possible readiness by
the United States and key allies to accept some limited form of enrichment by
Iran, despite years of warnings from Washington that Tehran wanted such
technology to make atomic warheads.
Iran insists its nuclear program is intended only to produce power, arguing
it needs enrichment technology to produce fuel for atomic reactors that would
generate electricity.
Since talks between European nations and Iran broke off last August, the
public stance by the European negotiators and the United States has been that
Iran must commit to a long-term halt in enrichment as a precondition for talks.
Still, a diplomat said that despite the concession, a long-term moratorium
remained the preferred goal of the six nations that approved a package of
incentives for the Tehran regime last week, the United States, China, Russia,
Britain, France and Germany.
Beyond that, the talks are meant to reach agreement on what kind of nuclear
activities Iran can conduct under conditions that dispel fears it wants a
military program.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who presented the offer to
Iranian officials this week, said Wednesday that the issue of enrichment would
have to be reassessed once talks were completed.
"In principle ... they will have to stop now, we will have to negotiate with
no process of enrichment in place," he told reporters in Germany. "After the
finalization of the negotiations we will see what happens."
Solana said the incentive offer came with "no specific timeframe," but that
he expected an Iranian answer within "weeks."