Talks between Russian and Iranian negotiators on a Russian plan for joint uranium enrichment have ended with a "general" agreement but the proposal needs work, Iran's chief negotiator said on Wednesday.
Ali Larijani said talks would be continued to work out outstanding issues but he said Tehran was still insisting on its right to enrich uranium on its own soil.
"In general we are agreed on this question but we need to refine ... a few elements of this question and study it. This requires time," Larijani said after about four hours of talks with officials from Russia's Security Council
But he added: "I want to say that the process of enrichment is a sovereign right of any state."
Russia, the United States and the European Union have said the Russian proposal would be worthwhile only if it meant Iran stopped all enrichment activities on its own soil.
A Russian Security Council official quoted by Itar-Tass news agency said there had been no breakthrough in the talks so far, and the Iranian delegation would be flying home on Thursday.
"The details of the Russian proposal on creating a joint enrichment venture on Russia's territory were discussed, however, it has not yet been possible to achieve a breakthrough," Tass quoted the official as saying.
It was not immediately clear if the delegation would be having more talks before leaving Moscow on Thursday.
Comments
Comments are closed.