Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council speaks at a press conference at the Iranian embassy in Beijing. US President George W. Bush gave public backing to a Russian compromise plan to end the Iran nuclear dispute but the United States is not easing efforts to refer Iran to the UN Security Council.
Reuters: China and Iran warm to Russian nuclear proposal
China and Iran expressed support on Thursday for a Russian proposal to resolve Tehran’s standoff with Western governments which suspect it of secretly planning to build a nuclear bomb.
Top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, on a one-day trip to Beijing to seek China’s support, said the Russian proposal — that Iran’s uranium fuel be enriched on Russian soil rather than in Iran — needed further discussion.
Tehran has previously shown little interest in the idea, intended to ensure it does not covertly divert enriched fuel toward a weapons program. It has repeatedly insisted it has no plans to build bombs but has the right to enrich uranium fuel on its territory for nuclear power generation.
“The Russian suggestion is a useful one, but needs to be discussed further,” Larijani told a Beijing news conference.
And President Bush endorses the Russian compromise proposal:
U.S. President George W. Bush described how the arrangement would work: “The material used to power the plant would be manufactured in Russia, delivered under IAEA inspectors to Iran, to be used in that plant, the waste of which will be picked up by the Russians and returned to Russia.
“I think that is a good plan,” Bush told a news conference. “The Russians came up with the idea and I support it.”
But he said Iran had shown by its actions that it wanted a nuclear weapon. “And it’s not in the world’s interests that they have a weapon,” he added.
Is the President of the United States calling Iran’s BLUFF?
Stay tuned…….
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The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image
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