US opposes compromise on uranium enrichment to Iran

Washington, Mar 07: The United States is opposed to any compromise that would allow Iran to have even a small uranium enrichment capability, sources said.

The Bush administration made it clear yesterday that it will not be a party to any compromise giving Iran a continuing capability to enrich uranium. It also expects a referral of the matter to the UN Security Council barring a sudden policy reversal by Tehran on its nuclear program.

''Allowing the Iranian regime to pursue enrichment on any capacity, on any scale, would basically allow it to master the kinds of technologies needed to make weapons-grade material, and that's clearly something that neither we, nor the international community nor anyone else, can accept,'' said Mr Thomas Casey, State Department acting spokesman.

Talk of such a compromise surfaced yesterday in Vienna as the IAEA convened to hear a report on the Iranian nuclear program from agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei, before the matter is sent to the Security Council under a February 4 IAEA decision.

The IAEA chief said a deal to defuse the standoff over the Iranian programme was still possible, and reports said Iran might accept a long-term freeze on industrial scale enrichment, if it was allowed to carry-on small-scale enrichment for research under IAEA scrutiny.

However, the Bush administration, which contends that Iran's publicly stated so-called ''peaceful nuclear programme'' conceals a weapons project, says Iran cannot be trusted because of nearly two decades of nuclear deception.

Meanwhile, Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns speaking at the Heritage Foundation, here said the message to Iran is that it has gone too far and crossed the red line laid down by the international community.

He said unless Iran does a dramatic about-face and suspends all nuclear activities that are of international concern, the 35-nation IAEA board will confirm its judgment of a month ago, and the matter will go to the Security Council.

The comments came even as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prepared to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose government has pursued nuclear negotiations with Tehran.

Moscow has proposed to enrich uranium for Iran on Russian soil to allow Tehran to continue what it says is a peaceful civilian nuclear programme.

UNI

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