The head of the UN nuclear watchdog welcomed on Thursday moves to avert possible UN sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear programme and appealed for compromise as Iran's president said he was ready to talk.
Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said he was pleased the UN Security Council was holding off from sanctions against Iran as Europeans work on a package of benefits to induce Tehran to cooperate.
"I'm very optimistic. I hope both sides will move away from the war of words, I hope the pitch will go down, I hope people will adopt a cool-headed approach," he told a news conference at Amsterdam airport. "We need compromises from both sides."
"I hope that at this stage we will use more carrots before we think of using sticks," he said. "It is a very good idea that the Security Council is holding its horses."
Washington and its European allies have been seeking a UN Security Council resolution that would oblige Iran to halt all uranium enrichment work or face possible sanctions.
But Russia and China have resisted the move and Washington agreed this week to let Europeans first devise a package of benefits for Iran in return for co-operating, putting back a decision on a possible resolution for about two weeks.
Tehran says it only wants to produce low-grade enriched uranium to use in atomic power reactors, not the highly enriched uranium needed to make bombs.
Diplomats say ElBaradei has privately told Western leaders they may have to accept a limited Iranian enrichment programme under IAEA monitoring as it was a matter of national pride and to insist on scrapping it may only bolster Iranian hard-liners.