UN nuclear chief says Iran deal could be days away

VIENNA -- The head of the UN atomic watchdog agency said yesterday a deal on Iran's suspect nuclear program could be only a few days away, making UN Security Council action unneeded.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, did not elaborate. But his optimism was believed to be linked to a confidential Russian proposal to allow Iran to enrich some uranium in Russia, diplomats said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal details of the plan.

''I am still very much hopeful that in the next week, an agreement could be reached," ElBaradei told reporters, without elaborating.

However, the plan -- which Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia planned to discuss with officials in Washington -- was expected to meet strong US resistance over fears it could be misused to make nuclear weapons.

The Russia proposal would allow Tehran to conduct small-scale enrichment and ask the IAEA to set the parameters of such activity to minimize the chances of abuse.

In return, the diplomats said Iran would be asked to recommit to in-depth IAEA probes of its program on short notice -- something Tehran canceled last month after the agency's 35-nation board voted Feb. 4 to alert the Security Council by passing on Iran's nuclear dossier resulting from almost three years of agency investigations.

Russia and China, both of which have economic and strategic ties with Iran, voted with the majority of IAEA board members, but insisted the council do nothing until after this week's IAEA meeting in Vienna.

Moscow's offer to enrich uranium for Iran has the support of the United States and other countries and would ensure greater oversight. But Tehran, insisting its goals are peaceful, has said it should be free to carry out some enrichment domestically.

The Russian proposal was driving a wedge into what had been a relatively united front on uranium enrichment, with Germany cautiously supportive and France and Britain opposed and backing the United States.

John Bolton, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said in New York that the United States would oppose any enrichment on Iranian soil.

''It's been a core element of our view and the view of the European three, and certainly of the Russian Federation, that no enrichment in Iran is permissible," Bolton said.

He said ''even small so-called research enrichment programs could give Iran the possibility of mastering the technical deficiencies that it's currently encountering in its program" and translate them into large-scale enrichment later.

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns underlined US determination, saying in Washington that ''unless Iran does a dramatic about-face," he expected the issue to be taken up by the Security Council.

France, Britain, and Germany broke off negotiations on behalf of the European Union with Iran last year after it resumed enrichment-related activities, which can make both nuclear fuel and the fissile core of warheads. Since then, those three countries, as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan, have been at the forefront of efforts to have the Security Council take up the issue.

The diplomats said negotiations continued on the sidelines of a board meeting of the IAEA, which began yesterday and would focus on Iran later in the week.

A senior European diplomat said the deal probably would stand or fall ''on the response Lavrov gets in Washington" in a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other senior officials.

But he said all involved -- whether or not they supported allowing Iran some control of enrichment -- were firm on the need for Tehran to first return to a freeze of all such activities for a prolonged time ''to reestablish confidence."