European Union external relations commissioner Benita Ferreo-Waldner said on Thursday the European Commission was ”rather sceptical” about a warm reception Tehran has given to a Russian proposal for Iran to conduct sensitive nuclear work abroad.
Tehran has said that Moscow’s idea for Iran’s uranium to be enriched on Russian soil offered a basis for compromise in the crisis.
”As for the renewed interest in the Russian ideas which foresee uranium enrichment outside Iran, given its previous rejection, I think we are rather sceptical,” she told the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee.
”It is difficult to think that this is not only a delaying tactic,” she said, adding that the Russian suggestion was ”interesting”.
Russia has proposed to enrich Iran’s uranium as a way of allaying fears that Tehran might be trying to take advantage of the enrichment process for its civilian nuclear programme to develop atomic weapons.
The EU presidency welcomed on Thursday Chinese backing for the plan to have Iran’s uranium enriched in Russia, amid international concern about the Islamic republic’s nuclear ambitions.
”Anything which would help resolve the mounting tensions on the Iran issue is always welcome on the European side,” a senior official from the Austrian EU presidency said.
The EU and the United States have also said they back the Russian plan.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, is due to meet on February 2 to discuss the Iranian issue.
The IAEA could decide to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for breaching its nuclear obligations; a move which could eventually lead to sanctions.
The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, has been meeting with Russian and Chinese officials to discuss Moscow’s offer.
”We are hoping very much that these meetings will contribute to a positive solution to the issue at stake,” the Austrian EU presidency official said. – Sapa-AFP