Iran: Russia made nuclear proposal
Updated: 2007-10-17 20:57
TEHRAN, Iran - Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unspecified proposal about Iran's nuclear program at a private meeting with the country's supreme leader during a brief trip to Tehran, Iran's state news agency said Wednesday.
 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) stand at attention in Tehran. Putin on Tuesday warned against military action on Iran and backed its right to nuclear energy, during the first visit to the country by a Kremlin chief since World War II. [Agencies] |
Russian officials could not immediately be reached to verify the report and the Iranian news agency provided no details on what Putin had proposed.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all government matters, said Iran will give Putin's proposal serious thought before giving a response, the news agency said.
"We will ponder your words and proposal," IRNA quoted Khamenei as saying.
Officials close to hard-liners within Iran's ruling Islamic establishment said they believed the proposal by Putin was a type of "time out" on U.N. sanctions against Iran, if Tehran suspends uranium enrichment. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue.
"The main reason for Putin's visit to Iran was to convey this message personally to the ultimate power in Iran," one official said.
Khamenei told Putin that Iran is serious about continuing uranium enrichment in turn but wants to avoid adventurism and cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the news agency said.
The five permanent U.N. Security Council members, plus Germany, have been working together to try to find a way to get Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program. The US and some allies allege that the program is cover for a weapons program. Iran says it is intended purely for peaceful energy production.
Putin met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and attended a summit of Caspian Sea nations Tuesday, the first visit by a Kremlin leader to Iran since Josef Stalin attended a 1943 summit with Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Before visiting Iran, Putin held extensive talks on Iran's nuclear activities with some Western leaders including French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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