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Summary
The United States and France will shortly approve proposals from the International Atomic Energy Agency that aim to break the deadlock on the Iranian nuclear programme as the Russia approved it first on Friday.The US and French ambassadors to the IAEA are currently on their way to Mohamed ElBaradei to present their countries' positive responses, a diplomat told. Earlier this week, ElBaradei set a Friday deadline for France, Iran, Russia and the United States to give their formal approval to an arrangement under which Russia would further enrich Iranian low-enriched uranium on Russian soil. Moscow was the first to give the official nod. We agree with these proposals, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference. Lavrov called on other countries involved in the talks to follow Russia's lead. The Russian experts participated in a meeting at which proposals have been formed on behalf of the IAEA, he said. We expect that not only Iran but the rest of the participants -- the countries on whom the realisation of this scheme depends -- will confirm their agreement with this package, he said. Both the United States and France -- the two other countries that would be involved in the scheme -- have indicated support for the draft proposal. But Iran has given mixed signals over whether it is ready to send virtually all of its uranium abroad. Diplomats say that Russia will take all of the uranium, but it will sub-contract any additional processing to France, so that no direct negotiations between France and Iran are necessary. Iran made it clear during the consultations at the IAEA this week that it did not want France to be part of any deal. France has been a tough critic of Iran's nuclear drive which Western nations fear is aimed at building a nuclear bomb.
