LEADALL: World powers greet Iran's nuclear overture with caution

By German Press Agency dpa Feb 3, 2010, 15:14 GMT

World powers on Wednesday called on Iran to follow through on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's announcement that he was ready to sign a multinational nuclear fuel deal, reacting cautiously to his apparent policy shift.

Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Iran was ready to ship its low- enriched uranium out of the country, in exchange for a more highly processed version to be used as fuel in a medical-purpose reactor in Tehran.

His statements in a state television interview marked a change in position, after Tehran had stalled for several months on the confidence-building deal that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna had drafted after negotiations with the US, Russia, France and Iran.

Officials and leaders from Britain, Germany and France and the United States called on Tehran to officially inform the IAEA of its readiness to accept the deal, indicating the Islamic state had not yet done so.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Iran had to prove it was willing to accept the IAEA's offer. 'We will measure all this on what actions follow,' she said.

'A speech is surely not a reliable basis for taking further steps. We have always said, if Iran turns to the appropriate institutions then we will evaluate that fairly,' Merkel added.

In the past months, various Iranian leaders made conflicting, but mostly negative, remarks about the deal that was drafted in October. The country's diplomats sought further talks and changes to the IAEA's draft, but declined to put any reaction into writing, diplomats in Vienna said.

In Washington, the White House on Tuesday commented on Tehran's unclear position in the past. 'If Mr Ahmadinejad's comments reflect an updated Iranian position, we look forward to Iran informing the IAEA,' National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said.

Permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the US, plus Germany, have been involved in seeking a solution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle made clear that the option of further sanctions was not off the table unless Iran made a serious return to negotiations, a call that was echoed also in London.

So far, the UN Security Council has slapped Iran with three rounds of sanctions in a fruitless attempt to get the country to stop its controversial uranium enrichment programme.

This 'aim of the international community should not be overlooked,' the French Foreign Ministry said.

Western powers have been pushing for additional punitive measures, but China and Russia have shown little appetite for additional sanctions aimed at pressuring Tehran's leaders to stop its controversial uranium enrichment programme.

However, China's Foreign Ministry also struck a cautious tone. A spokesman said the involved parties and the IAEA would hopefully continue to talk about a nuclear fuel supply for the Tehran reactor.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov welcomed Ahmadinejad's statements, if Iran's leadership was indeed ready to have low- enriched uranium sent abroad for further enrichment.

The IAEA did not comment on Ahmadinejad's announcements. A Vienna- based diplomat said the agency was exercising extreme caution so as not to irritate Iran, as 'they want to see this deal go through.'

The IAEA and the other involved countries had urged Iran to accept the deal as a confidence-building measure, as it would remove from Iran a large share of nuclear material, which could theoretically be used to make nuclear weapons.

According to the IAEA's plan, Iran's low-enriched uranium would be be exported to Russia for further enrichment, and then to France for processing into fuel for the Tehran reactor.