IAEA chief Mohammad El-Baradei said that the West may have no choice but to allow Iran to carry out small-scale uranium enrichment on its soil, diplomats said, according to Reuters.
El-Baradei suggested that Iran can be allowed to conduct limited uranium enrichment under certain conditions as a compromise to defuse its nuclear stand-off with Western states.
Iran resumed small-scale uranium enrichment earlier this month, after the International Atomic Energy Agency referred its nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council, which can impose sanctions.
Tehran insists that it has a right to pursue a peaceful nuclear program as a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. But the U.S., Europe and Israel suspect that Iran is covertly working on an atomic weapons program.
According to IAEA diplomats, El-Baradei will make no recommendations in a report on Iran he is expected to submit to board members on February 27, a week before they meet to decide whether to call for a Security Council action on the Islamic republic.
But the IAEA head has already proposed an offer that could allow Iran to carry out small-scale uranium enrichment in exchange for guarantees of no full nuclear fuel production that could be used in making atomic weapons.
The compromise includes giving more powers to UN inspectors through a Security Council resolution to prevent Iran from carrying out atomic bomb projects. In return, Tehran would have to guarantee that it won’t carry out industrial-scale uranium enrichment.
"He (El-Baradei) has also told diplomats that Natanz (Tehran's pilot enrichment plant) is Iran's bottom line, a sovereignty issue, a reality we may have to deal with," said a diplomat close to the IAEA, who demanded anonymity due to the subject's sensitivity.
"Nothing of consequence will happen in the Security Council because the Russians and Chinese will block sanctions," the diplomat said of the two permanent UNSC members.
"Step forward"
Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki welcomed El-Baradei’s proposal as a “step forward”.
He also said that Tehran is ready to resume diplomatic talks with the European Union, but insisted the Islamic republic has an "irrefutable right to acquire nuclear technology" for the peaceful generation of electricity.
"If we reach some compromise, we continue our preparation from where we are now. That is, the research department will continue its activity," Mottaki told a news briefing in Brussels where he is meeting European Union officials.
He also said that Western threat of UN sanctions against Iran was wrong. "We believe the time of threats is over. The Security Council should not be considered as a tool in the hands of some countries," he said.
Meanwhile, Iranian officials began talks with Russian officials on another compromise aimed at easing the nuclear tensions.
Under the Russian proposal, Tehran could receive uranium enriched on Russian soil.
As the talks began, Iranian officials reiterated that Tehran has the right to pursue nuclear research even if it accepts the Russian offer.
"We are a nuclear country. The (West) knows it has no other choice but to negotiate," Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh told state television.
He added that Tehran invited Western countries to invest in Natanz and be present on site. "There is no greater objective guarantee (against bomb-building) we can provide to the world," he said.