World leaders voiced scepticism Saturday about Iranian offers to accept a deal to enrich nuclear fuel outside Iran, as the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said that Tehran had not yet made formal proposals, dpa reported.
"There was not a new proposal," the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, said shortly after a half-hour meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on the margins of the annual Munich Security Conference.
Mottaki said that the meeting had been "very good," that the two men had "exchanged views on the proposal on the table and I tried to explain Iran's views."
The announcement by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday that Iran was ready to participate in the IAEA enrichment deal has left world leaders perplexed, especially since Iran has resisted the idea for so long.
The deal is meant to boost international confidence by removing the possibility that Iran could enrich its own uranium for military purposes.
German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said he thought the recent softening of Tehran's stance was just an attempt to buy time while Iran pursues its nuclear plan.
"They are trying to win time, and this is one more attempt to carry on the charade," he said.
Indeed, in a late Friday night session, Mottaki announced that Iran would expect some changes to the IAEA-proposed plan, such as mutual cooperation and measures to make sure the deal receives proper international oversight.
US Senator John Kerry, who heads that body's Foreign Relations Committee, said in a panel discussion on the likelihood of a nuclear weapons-free world that world leaders need to be clear with Iran about what is expected of it.
"We haven't been clear to this day. Everyone has been running around beating their chest saying Iran, you can't have a nuclear weapon. But we haven't been clear.
"I think that's a very waffly way to be trying to control something as serious as this."
Whatever Iran wants, it will need to prove the sincerity of its plans to Western negotiators. Just accepting a deal "would not be a substitute ... for negotiations to ensure the civilian character of the Iranian nuclear programme," said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.
EU foreign policy director Catherine Ashton stressed that the IAEA plan and overtures conducted by the US administration "have so far gone without adequate response," warning the Iranian regime that "dialogue takes two."
US National Security Advisor James Jones also insisted that "the door for diplomacy with Iran remains open" and that Washington was ready to negotiate with Tehran.
But he also warned that US patience was not endless, saying that "Tehran's puzzling defiance ... compels all of us to work together as allies and partners on a second track of increased pressure," via international sanctions.
"We are doing exactly what we said we would be doing. We have not seen any indication that (Iran) is willing to do so," Jones said.
Last year the IAEA proposed that Iran ship low-intensity uranium abroad for enrichment, then re-import the enriched variant for use in a medical reactor, used to treat cancer patients, in Tehran.
The idea was to give Iran access to peaceful nuclear technology without it enriching uranium at home - a process world powers fear is designed to produce a nuclear bomb.
"A new country with nuclear weapons is absolutely unacceptable, be it Iran or anyone else," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
However, sanctions would appear difficult to steer through the United Nations Security Council after veto-holder China's foreign minister on Friday said that sanctions would be a mistake.
"In order not to complicate the situation, it is better now to concentrate on consultation and dialogue to achieve a satisfactory solution," Yang Jiechi told the conference.
World leaders await details on Iran's nuclear plan
