Russia Backs Off From The Abyss With Iran

[Annie]

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Russia denies Iran nuclear proposal

By Mark Heinrich and Parisa HafeziTue Mar 7, 4:55 PM ET

Russia on Tuesday backed away from what EU diplomats said was a proposal to let Iran do some atomic research if it agreed to refrain from enriching uranium on an industrial scale for 7-9 years.

Russia abandoned the informal proposal, aimed at finding a compromise to the crisis over Iran's nuclear program, after Western rejection of the idea.

The United States and the European Union want Iran to shelve all work to enrich uranium because of suspicions that Tehran is secretly trying to make nuclear weapons.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said on Tuesday that Iran would be stopped from getting atomic bombs and faced "meaningful consequences" if it persists in defying calls to stop nuclear work which could lead to weapons.

In defying calls to halt all enrichment-related work, Iran seems to be counting on divisions in the U.N. Security Council over whether to resort to sanctions mooted by the United States.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied after talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that he had made a new proposal to defuse a crisis over Iran's nuclear aspirations that the Security Council may soon tackle.

"There is no compromise new proposal," Lavrov said at a news conference with Rice, who added: "The Russians did not tell us of any new proposal ..."

EU diplomats said Russian officials informally raised the idea of a 7-9 year moratorium during consultations over the past week. U.S., British, French and German rejection came swiftly when word of the offer leaked on Tuesday.

"The Russians explored this idea with us," said a diplomat, who asked not to be identified, from one of the three EU states - Germany, France and Britain - working on the Iran issue, the so-called EU3.

The diplomat said when Lavrov "realized the EU3 and U.S. would not accept its elements, he decided to deny it to save face."

RUSSIA, WEST SHARED GOAL

In Moscow, a senior Kremlin aide said Russia shared the West's goal of keeping bomb-grade nuclear technology out of Iran but acknowledged it might be considering different approaches.

"There are divergences ... but the goal is a single one - that Iran should be a predictable partner and there is no threat of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," Sergei Prikhodko told RIA Novosti news agency.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), alluded to Moscow's reported formula when he held out hope on Monday for a deal to defuse the crisis without U.N. Security Council intervention against Iran. A council debate on Iran looms after an IAEA board meeting now in progress.

Iran says its nuclear program aims solely at generating electricity. But it concealed atomic research from the IAEA for 18 years and its calls for Israel's destruction alarm the West.

U.S. officials said any concession to let Iran feed uranium gas into a small cascade of centrifuges would inevitably give Tehran the know-how to make nuclear warheads.

Iran reacted coolly to reports of the Russian offer as well, with one diplomat saying Tehran could accept a two-year moratorium on industrial atomic fuel production, but not longer, in exchange for assurances it could do centrifuge research.

He said Iran's idea of research entailed running nearly 3,000 enrichment centrifuges, which the West would deem industrial-scale and could yield enough highly enriched uranium for one bomb in a year if operating at full capacity.

"Any moratorium of more than two years and any suspension of nuclear research activities (as the West demands) will make it difficult to reach a deal. The face-saving solution is to enrich uranium on a limited scale ... during the two years," he said.

While Moscow and Beijing also do not want Iran to acquire atom bomb technology, they want to protect big trade stakes with Tehran and could use their council vetoes to block sanctions.