TEHRAN, Feb 18: Iran said on Saturday that a reported proposal by the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog for the Islamic republic to be allowed to conduct small-scale uranium enrichment work was a ‘step forward’.

Diplomats have said the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, has warned in quiet diplomacy that it will be hard to strike a compromise in the mounting crisis unless Iran can conduct limited fuel work.

ElBaradei has reportedly said a deal could hinge on letting Iran operate a pilot enrichment plant while also giving guarantees not to conduct industrial-scale enrichment.

“We regard this proposal as an indication of accepting enrichment in Iran and a step forward,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA.

“We have two main aims in nuclear negotiations: one is to clear some countries’ concerns by giving the required guarantees about the peaceful nature of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear activities, the second is to obtain Iran’s legitimate rights which is having peaceful nuclear technology.”

Western powers have reportedly rejected the idea, sticking to their argument that Iran should not be allowed to possess reactor fuel-making technology that could be extended to make the fissile core of a nuclear bomb.

On February 4, the IAEA’s board reported Iran to the UN Security Council, a move that exposes the country to the risk of sanctions.

But Iran has responded by continuing to back away from a freeze on fuel cycle work it agreed to more than two years ago.—AFP