MOSCOW, March 2: Iran’s top nuclear negotiator accused the United States on Thursday of trying to ‘destroy’ Russian efforts to work out a solution for easing global worries over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

“The Americans’ insistence on referring the Iran nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council signifies the destruction of the Russian proposal,” Ali Larijani said at a news conference.

“I think the Americans are really an obstacle to the Russian plan.

“We think that, in ideal circumstances, the Russian proposition can be developed,” he said. “We are trying to take positive steps in order to successfully implement the Russian proposal.”

But even after Iran and Russia stated that they had held constructive negotiations, ‘the Americans announced that they were worried’.

“The Americans are lying when they say that Iran is pursuing the goal of creating nuclear weapons. This does not correspond to reality,” Mr Larijani said.

He was speaking a day after Iran and Russia failed to reach a breakthrough in high-stakes talks in Moscow on a Russian proposal aimed at resolving the impasse over Tehran’s nuclear programme, a plan centring on joint enrichment of uranium at a facility on Russian soil.

Mr Larijani described the negotiations, including discussion of Iran reinstating a voluntary moratorium on uranium enrichment work, as ‘very useful’ and said Moscow and Tehran were in agreement on a number of issues.

The Iranian negotiator however admitted that no date had been set for further consultations between Russia and Iran.

He also said Iranian officials planned to meet representatives of the European Union to discuss the issue before the UN nuclear supervisory agency meets on Monday to decide whether to take concerns over Iran’s nuclear intentions to the UN Security Council.

Mr Larijani said Russia and Iran had discussed a number of proposals which he said needed to be examined in a single package with a view to carrying out the Russian proposal for uranium enrichment and preserving Iran’s rights to develop civilian nuclear power.

“I would suggest that the Americans say one thing but in reality are putting a spanner in the works of the Russian proposal. Obviously it is not in the Americans’ interest that such a successful regional proposal should come from Russia,” he said.

Mr Larijani said Tehran would have no problem readmitting international inspectors to all of its nuclear facilities, provided the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and “influential states” within it, recognized Iran’s right to pursue a civilian nuclear energy program.

He said Iran and Russia were considering a package of new initiatives in connection with Russia’s proposal for joint uranium enrichment, but he declined to specify what these were.

“I think you’ll be hearing about them in the near future,” he said, adding: “For now, you’ll have to speculate.”

The Iran nuclear issue however should not be transferred to the UN Security Council because such a move would be ‘flawed’ and ‘not pretty’. —AFP