11 September 2006
Iran is ready to consider a temporary freeze of its uranium enrichment and has said so at talks with the top EU diplomat Javier Solana in Vienna, according to reports by the "Associated Press" news service. A unnamed diplomat in Vienna told AP that said Ali Larijani, Iran negotiator on the issue, had floated the possibility of Iran stopping its enrichment activities "voluntarily, for one or two months, if presented ... in such a way that it does it without pressure." The diplomats did not say when such a contemplated move was planned. Such a concession would be a major departure by Iran, which is under threat of possible UN sanctions for its defiance of a Security Council decision that it cease all enrichment activities, a possible pathway to nuclear weapons. Iran insists it wants to develop an enrichment program to generate power.
Meanwhile, the US State Department said on Friday that Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had applied for a US visa to attend the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York later this month. Spokesman Sean McCormack said a decision on the application was pending.
Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez announced that Ahmadinejad would visit his country this month. Chávez had visited Iran in July and was presented by Ahmadinejad with a medal for supporting Tehran in its nuclear dispute with Western nations, including the United States and European Union. Venezuela and Iran are major oil producers and members of the powerful OPEC oil cartel.
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