Europe submits nuclear proposals to Iran

Reuters:

Fri Aug 5, 2005 05:57 AM ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Britain, France and Germany submitted proposals to Iran on Friday for economic and political cooperation meant to persuade Tehran to abandon all activities that might be used to make a nuclear bomb.

"The three ambassadors handed over the proposals this morning," a source close to the negotiations told Reuters.

But Iranian officials said their initial assessment of the proposals was that they did not meet their requirements. One negotiator said Iran would restart work at a uranium conversion plant near the city of Isfahan regardless of the incentives.

Iran says it aims only to generate electricity and has a right to a peaceful nuclear program that includes processing its own nuclear fuel.

"Even if their proposals do not allow the resumption of work at Isfahan, we will resume activities," Hossein Mousavian, a senior nuclear negotiator, told Reuters. Another Iranian source close to the talks said the trio had offered to allow Western companies to build nuclear power stations in Iran and supply fuel for them.

Iran says it needs nuclear power stations to meet booming electricity demand. The EU3 offer of power stations could help it to meet that demand without having to process its own nuclear fuel -- which could be used to make a bomb.

The EU said this week that if Iran resumed uranium processing at Isfahan this would bring to an end two years of talks and could lead to referral to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

Uranium conversion, which Iran agreed to suspend along with other sensitive nuclear activities under a November deal with the three European Union countries, is the step before enrichment, which can purify uranium to the levels needed to fuel nuclear reactors or bombs.

The EU3 are also planning to call a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) -- the United Nations' nuclear watchdog -- early next week to warn Tehran against restarting the sensitive nuclear work, diplomats said.