SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa has proposed a compromise to break the diplomatic deadlock over Iran's nuclear programme after Tehran yesterday removed UN seals from an uranium-enrichment facility to resume work on producing nuclear fuel.
Pretoria's intervention came as an emergency board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adjourned without agreement on a resolution which would call on the Islamic republic to freeze its nuclear work.
Opposition from developing countries derailed the resolution, which was being promoted by western nations.
Diplomats said South African president Thabo Mbeki was personally involved in pushing the interim compromise.
Mr Mbeki met Hassan Rowhani, who was then Iran's chief negotiator, two weeks ago to discuss a proposal which would involve shipping South African uranium yellowcake to Iran for conversion into uranium hexa- fluoride gas. This would then be returned to South Africa to be enriched into nuclear fuel.
The proposal is designed to allay fears that Iran could use its facilities to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran sees the proposal as an interim confidence-building measure, but says it wants to develop the whole fuel cycle for its own civilian use later.
"For further confidence-building we are ready to sell the output to a third country in co-operation with the EU and under the IAEA supervision," said Ali Aghamohammadi, spokesman for the Supreme National Security Council.
"The Europeans seem to be agreeing with this issue quietly, without actually saying it," said an Iranian official.
However, European officials played down such suggestions, and public statements showed that positions were hardening again in response to Iran's decision to restart its Isfahan uranium-conversion facility.
The lead negotiators for the EU3 group of France, Germany and the UK accused Iran of violating its November 2004 agreement to suspend voluntarily its nuclear fuel cycle development.
A UK official said there would be no further talks until Iran resumed that suspension.
The western powers struggled yesterday at IAEA headquarters in Vienna to persuade the non-aligned bloc on its 35-member board to back a resolution urging Iran to go back to its suspension so talks could resume.