Region | Iran

Iran denies suspending N work

Iran dismissed on Sunday any suggestion it might agree to partially suspend its uranium enrichment activities as a way towards ending an international standoff over its nuclear programme.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 00:00 April 29, 2007
  • Gulf News

Tehran: Iran dismissed on Sunday any suggestion it might agree to partially suspend its uranium enrichment activities as a way towards ending an international standoff over its nuclear programme.

Iran says it is developing nuclear technology for power generation but the West fears it is trying to build a bomb and two sets of UN sanctions have already been imposed on Tehran.

Some diplomats and analysis say Iran and the six world powers handling Iran's atomic file may eventually need to accept a partial enrichment freeze under strict UN inspections to overcome the deadlock. Both sides have publicly denied this.

When asked about a possible partial suspension of Iran's nuclear work, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, told a regular news briefing: "What has been said about suspension is not correct and it is not true."

He described last week's talks in Turkey between Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana as positive and constructive.

Larijani said after his meeting with Solana that Iran and the EU were nearing a "united view" in some areas of their talks, which will reconvene in two weeks' time, but did not give details.

Analysts say the key to resolving the crisis is finding a definition of an enrichment suspension both sides can stomach. This could, for example, mean suspending uranium fuel production but exempting the building or testing of centrifuge machines.

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