Iran nuclear enrichment freeze offer a ploy - US

Iran said yesterday it might extend a partial freeze on uranium enrichment in order to ease Western fears about its nuclear ambitions, but a senior US official dismissed this as a ploy to fend off tough UN action.

UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said his agency had seen no sign of nuclear-related activity at a site in Iran called Parchin that several US officials said may be linked to secret atom bomb research.

A comprehensive freeze of Iran's enrichment programme is a leading demand in a draft resolution that US and key European diplomats have agreed on, but one that some International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board members find difficult to accept.

"I don't reject the possibility... of continuing the suspension for an additional one or two months, but this will be decided by the policymakers in two or three days," said Iran's chief IAEA delegate Hossein Mousavian.

Mr Mousavian, who earlier this week said Tehran would soon begin enriching uranium, was reacting to news the United States had compromised with France, Britain and Germany on a toughly-worded IAEA resolution that calls for a suspension of Iran's enrichment programme, which could be used for weapons.