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By Nick Coleman
MOSCOW: Russia on Saturday said world powers
concerned about Iran’s nuclear program were asking Tehran only to
suspend uranium enrichment during a period of talks.
Following a meeting on Iran in London of the
five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus
Germany, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said no mention had been
made of new sanctions and that Tehran must be made to see the
advantages of cooperation.
“Our first conditions are the freezing,
suspension of uranium enrichment. The approach of the six [powers]
is that Iran should suspend enrichment only for the period in which
talks continue,” Lavrov told the Interfax and ITAR-TASS news
agencies.
“There wasn’t anything about new sanctions
although our American colleagues take the view that pressure on Iran
must be maintained.
“It’s necessary to explain to Iran the
advantages it would receive from agreeing to start talks, on the
basis of one condition—the freezing of uranium enrichment,”
Lavrov said.
Western powers fear Tehran wants to use its
nuclear program to make atomic weapons but the Islamic republic
insists the drive is peaceful and solely aimed at providing energy
for a growing population.
The six have been using a mix of incentives and
sanctions to try to persuade Iran to rein in its nuclear work.
Following Friday’s talks in London, British
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the powers had “reviewed and
updated” an offer made to Iran in June 2006, but that the contents
of the new proposal would only be disclosed to the Islamic republic.
The proposals are in the areas of energy, trade
and investment and regional security, Lavrov said.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on
Friday the proposals were more “precise and detailed” than
before.
Rewards offered
The six powers have offered technical, political
and economic rewards to Tehran for suspending its nuclear program.
At the same time, the UN Security Council has
adopted three resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran for its refusal
to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.
Russia has relatively close ties to Iran despite
historical tensions and has generally taken a softer approach on the
sanctions issue than the United States.
Russia has coordinated its position with
neighboring China, a fellow UN Security Council member.
Analysts say Moscow is keen to keep a check on
Iranian influence in mainly Muslim southern Russia and in the
ex-Soviet states of Central Asia, but has mainly done so through
“soft” diplomacy.
Russia is building Iran’s first nuclear power
station at Bushehr under a deal by which Moscow has supplied
enriched uranium and will remove the fuel after use.
Deliveries of the enriched fuel were started
last December and completed in January under a process designed to
persuade Iran that it has no need to enrich fuel itself.
-- AFP
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