Russia and Iran to continue talks

Russian and Iranian negotiators today ended a day of talks on Moscow’s proposal to enrich uranium for Iran with an agreement to continue negotiations, but did not announce a date.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov would not give any details of the talks, but said they offered some hope of keeping the issue within the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The office of Russia’s presidential Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov, who hosted the Iranian delegation for talks in the Kremlin, issued a terse statement saying that the Russian and Iranian negotiators had agreed to continue talks on the proposal, which is backed by the US and European Union as a way of reducing concern about Iran’s suspected intentions to develop nuclear weapons.

Ivanov’s spokeswoman, Kseniya Roshchina, refused to say when, where or on what level the talks would be continued. The Iranian delegation was expected to head home tomorrow, and no further talks were expected to be held before its departure.

Calls to the Iranian Embassy in Moscow went unanswered today evening.

Lavrov said after the talks that Iran should resume a moratorium on uranium enrichment it broke last month and assuage international concerns about its nuclear activities.

He said today’s discussions gave reason to hope the issue could remain in the hands of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, rather than going to the UN Security Council.

“The talks are continuing. We hope that they will define a perspective of keeping the situation within the IAEA framework,” Lavrov told reporters.

“To achieve that, it’s important for Iran to resume a moratorium on uranium enrichment on its territory and continue contacts between all interested parties to achieve mutually acceptable agreements.”

The Russian offer, backed by the US and Europe, was widely seen as the last chance for Iran to address the West’s concerns before a March 6 IAEA meeting that could start a process leading to punishment by the Security Council.

But Iran has adamantly defended its right to maintain a domestic enrichment programme, seen by the US and other Western nations as a cover-up for a suspected weapons programme.

Lavrov had sought to lower expectations before Moscow talks. “Honestly speaking, we have modest expectations, but we will make every effort to avoid an escalation of the situation and the use of force,” he told a government meeting chaired by President Vladimir Putin in televised comments shortly before the talks began.

Analysts warned against expecting a decisive outcome today, saying a concrete result would more likely emerge from further talks when the head of Russia’s atomic energy agency, Sergei Kiriyenko, visits Iran on Thursday.

Experts have said Iran would like its scientists to have access to the Russian enrichment facility and hope to retain the right to conduct some part of the enrichment process at home.