Russia accuses Iran of blocking nuclear diplomacy

Russia yesterday accused Iran of obstructing its diplomatic efforts to settle Tehran's nuclear dispute with the West, but the Iranians said they were still interested in a Russian compromise.

"We are extremely disappointed with the way Iran is behaving in the course of these talks," Russia's RIA news agency quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.

"Iran is absolutely no help to those who want to find peaceful ways to solve this problem."

A senior Iranian official earlier insisted Tehran wanted a diplomatic way out of the nuclear stand-off and was still considering the Russian proposal, apparently retracting remarks by the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman a day earlier.

Tehran has sent mixed signals on Russia's offer to enrich uranium for Iran on Russian soil to supply Iranian nuclear power reactors and ensure no fuel is diverted to bomb-making.

Mr Lavrov said bilateral Iranian-Russian talks would take place shortly at Tehran's request, but gave no details.

An unidentified official was later quoted by Iran's semi-official ISNA students' news agency as saying the talks would take place tomorrow and on Thursday, probably in Moscow.

The UN Security Council, which can impose sanctions, is due to consider Iran's nuclear dossier this week after the Islamic Republic failed to persuade the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that its atomic work was purely peaceful.

"The Russian proposal should be reviewed with respect to the new developments," Hossein Entezami, spokesman for the Supreme National Security Council, told the state news agency IRNA.

"Tehran has repeatedly said that it welcomes any solution which could help to resolve Iran's nuclear issue."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said on Sunday: "Now the situation has changed. The Russian proposal is not on the agenda."

Russia's Interfax news agency also reported that Tehran had made it clear that it was still considering the compromise and that, as far Moscow was concerned, the offer still stood.

So far the sticking point has been Iran's refusal to abandon at least some uranium enrichment on its own soil for "research".

The West fears that even small-scale enrichment would unlock the know-how Iran would need to make nuclear weapons. The Iranians have so far stood firm in their quest for such technology, saying they want it only to generate electricity.

US officials and European diplomats have said they believe Iran is simply toying with the Russian plan to avoid any sanctions and gain time in which to accelerate enrichment work.

Iran argues that it is being unjustly singled out, compared with nuclear proliferators such as India, Pakistan and Israel.

"We will not abandon our right (to nuclear technology) because of the cruel and unfair demands of some countries," state television quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying.

Mr Ahmadinejad provoked international outrage last year when he called for Israel's destruction, deepening fears that an Iran armed with nuclear weapons would destabilise the Middle East.