Iran nuclear chief wants proposals to be merged (2nd Roundup)

Jul 24, 2008, 12:26 GMT

Vienna - Two proposals by world powers and Iran on how to discuss Tehran's controversial nuclear programme and wider cooperation should be merged, Iran's nuclear chief said Thursday.

Under a so-called 'freeze for freeze' approach, Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China are offering not to press for additional UN Security Council sanctions if Tehran agreed not to expand its enrichment facility in Natanz.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who led the delegation of the five UN veto powers plus Germany in talks with Iran in Geneva on July 19, has said Iran should reply within two weeks whether it accepts this roadmap.

The plan was put forward by the six powers as a precondition for starting negotiations on political, economic and nuclear energy cooperation.

Iran also presented a proposal to the Geneva talks, in which the United States participated for the first time. It envisions a longer three-stage process for getting to comprehensive negotiations.

'Naturally, this is a normal trend that both papers should be blended into one,' Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh, the head of the Iranian Atomic Organization, said after meeting International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei.

Aqazadeh did not comment on Solana's deadline, saying it was 'natural' that the six powers needed time to study the Iranian paper handed over in Geneva.

But the document submitted by Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeid Jalili is not acceptable for the six countries, diplomats say, as it differs too much from their own proposal, titled The Way Forward.

'The non-paper by Iran does not correspond to The Way Forward, presented by the international community,' Christina Gallach, Solana's spokeswoman, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Under the Iranian proposal, Iran would keep enriching uranium, getting closer to the capability of producing weapons-grade nuclear material, a European diplomat said. Iran denies it is interested in atom bombs and says that it needs enriched uranium for nuclear power generation.

After the freeze-for-freeze stage, the six powers want Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and start full-fledged negotiations.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated on Wednesday that no one in Iran would compromise over the country's nuclear efforts.

Many issues, including the Middle East, Afghanistan, Iraq and oil prices, could be solved in full negotiations, Aqazadeh said.

In addition to reviewing the Geneva talks with ElBaradei, Aqazadeh also discussed IAEA questions about past Iranian research projects that could be related to a nuclear weapons effort.

Resolving these issues was 'outside the main activity of the agency,' Iran's top nuclear official said. But he indicated Iran would take steps to resolve questions about studies on nuclear materials, missiles and high explosives testing.

Tehran says that information on the studies given to the IAEA by around 10 countries was forged or concerned civilian projects.