Iran nuclear compromise possible 'within weeks'

Iran today said disputes over its nuclear program could be settled in the coming weeks.

The proposal is dependent on the UN Security Council dropping preparations to debate another round of sanctions against the Islamic Republic and turn over its case to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The announcement by Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini comes after an official in Spain said Iran had pledged to end years of stonewalling and provide answers about past suspicious nuclear activities to the IAEA, the UN nuclear monitoring agency.

"Regarding some past ambiguities, which the agency has mentioned, if reviewing of Iran's nuclear issue returns to the agency we will reach a compromise within several weeks," Hosseini told reporters in his weekly news conference in Tehran.

But Hosseini's comments and the offer, which Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani made to the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, during talks in Spain last week, appeared to fall short of Security Council demands that Iran suspend uranium enrichment.

Hosseini said that during Larijani's talks on Thursday with Solana in Madrid, Iran did not discuss halting enrichment. Iran has refused to freeze enrichment, which can produce both reactor fuel and - at higher levels - weapons-grade material.

"Such a thing was not discussed in the talks," he said when he was asked if the suspension was debated in the talks. "No change has applied in Iran's stance as a consequence of the talks."

The Security Council first imposed sanctions on Iran in December and modestly increased them in March over Iran's refusal to suspend enrichment. The council is now preparing to debate on a third round of punitive measures.

"All should know that the possible third resolution on sanctions and more restrictions on Iran will not dissuade us from our way," Hosseini said.

An IAEA report in May provided the potential trigger for another round of sanctions by saying Tehran continued to defy the Security Council ban on enrichment and instead was expanding its activities.

Washington and some of its allies fear Iran is trying to develop atomic weapons in violation of its commitments under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

Iran denies the accusations and says the treaty gives it the right to pursue uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes.