Six powers urge Iran to accept UN scheme
21/11/200905:21
Political directors, or deputy foreign ministers, from Russia, the U.S., the U.K., China, Germany and France held talks in Brussels Friday urging Iran to agree to a UN-proposed scheme.
Iran has yet to give an official answer to a UN-brokered deal designed to allay concerns over its nuclear program, which Western powers suspect of being aimed at the production of an atomic weapon. Iran says the program is for the peaceful generation of energy.
Under the deal, drawn up at October talks in Vienna between Iran, the UN, the U.S., Russia and France, the Islamic Republic would ship out its low-enriched uranium to Russia, where it would be enriched and then sent to France to prepare it for use in an Iranian reactor.
However, Iran has refused to send its stockpile to France and Russia, and the U.S. proposed allowing Tehran to send its uranium to any of several nations, including Turkey.
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said earlier the country was ready to store Iran's enriched uranium stockpile, but Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran would only agree to the initiative should uranium swaps be made on its territory.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog said in a report on Monday that Iran's lateness in admitting to a second uranium enrichment site raises concerns that it may be hiding further information on nuclear facilities.
Iran admitted to the existence of an enrichment site near the city of Qom in September, and IAEA inspectors who were granted access to the facility the following month said construction was at an advanced stage.
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