Agence France-Presse,
VIENNA: Iran has slowed the expansion of its uranium enrichment work in a move that could herald a breakthrough in the international crisis over its nuclear ambitions, UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Monday.
“We have seen a fairly slow development in commissioning new cascades,” ElBaradei told reporters, referring to the installation of centrifuges which enrich uranium into fuel for civilian reactors or, in its highly refined state, atom bomb material.
ElBaradei has called on Iran to freeze uranium enrichment at current levels, in return for the United Nations holding off on new sanctions.
The UN Security Council has already imposed two rounds of sanctions over Tehran's failure to heed calls for a halt to all enrichment work.
ElBaradei has said he is seeking a “time-out” in the Iranian nuclear crisis in order for the two sides to work towards negotiations that the United States says must include a full suspension of Iran's of enrichment activities.
Washington leads the West in charging that Tehran is using its civilian atomic energy program as a cover for the secret development of nuclear weapons.
Iran had been expected to have, by the end of July, 3,000 centrifuges running in Natanz, a number viewed as critical given its capacity to produce enough enriched uranium for one atom bomb in less than a year.
ElBaradei had said in June that Iran had between 1,700 and 2,000 centrifuges enriching uranium at its underground, heavily bunkered Natanz plant.
A diplomat close to the IAEA told AFP that while this number was now over 2,000, it was still well short of 3,000.
ElBaradei felt this was the result of a political decision made by Tehran after his talks with Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in Vienna on June 24, the diplomat said.
A second diplomat said the Iranians were hoping to start talks with world powers on ending the crisis, given that they are slowing, and possibly freezing, enrichment work at current levels.
A Western diplomat warned that Tehran might just be employing stalling tactics in the face of fresh sanctions, while others suggested the slowdown may be due to technical problems.
Iran has so far said publicly that it will not halt or slow down its enrichment work.
ElBaradei said IAEA inspectors had noticed Iran's slowdown “in commissioning new cascades” while on a visit to Natanz last week.
“Iran needs to do everything to cool things down,” ElBaradei said, stressing the need “to shift from the mode of confrontation to the mode of goodwill and cooperation.”
He said he hoped the slowdown would prove to be a “step in the right direction” and influence the actions of the Security Council as well as conditions for a return to the negotiating table.
“At this delicate stage, ideally they will even freeze what they have at the present stage,” he added.
He said direct talks between the United States and Iran “would help in many ways to enable us to make program.”
ElBaradei said he expected fairly rapid results in IAEA talks with Iran that are to start Wednesday.
Iran's IAEA ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh last week told AFP he expected the United Nations to hold off on new sanctions while Tehran pursues these new talks with the IAEA, which ElBaradei said could take 60 days.
Soltanieh said Iran would not be discussing the issue of a “time-out” with the IAEA team in Tehran this week.
Soltanieh said the matter would “probably” be discussed when EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Larijani continue their meetings.
