Iran hints at nuclear plans deal

Iran has suggested it may consider a complete suspension of nuclear enrichment, meeting a key demand set by most countries of the UN atomic watchdog agency.

Hossein Mousavian, Iran’s chief delegate to the board of governors’ meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said his country would decide on full suspension after passage of a Western resolution on the issue, either by consensus or by vote.

Western countries and non-aligned nations are deadlocked on the issue of suspending uranium enrichment – which can be used to generate electricity or to make nuclear arms.

Non-aligned nations in the 35-nation meeting opposed parts of a resolution submitted by the European Union, Canada, the United States and Australia.

A meeting scheduled for earlier today was suspended, with no word of when it would reconvene as the delegations tried to bridge the differences.

The United States, Europe and their allies want Iran to freeze all enrichment and related activities, while the non-aligned group wants the demand modified, saying all nations should have the right to enrichment as long as it is for peaceful purposes.

They also want the text to specify that any suspension is not part of the normal non-proliferation obligations of IAEA members but a confidence-building measure.

While the Americans assert Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons, Tehran insists its enrichment plans are meant only to generate power.

Even if the Western resolution is accepted in full, a new confrontation between Iran and the United States is possible when the agency’s board of governors reconvene in November.

While demanding Iran suspend all uranium enrichment activities, the resolution also recognises nations’ right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy – which Iran says is what it wants nuclear enrichment for.