GENEVA — Iran has indicated a readiness to scale back uranium enrichment the West fears could be put to making nuclear bombs, suggesting it is willing to compromise for a deal to win relief from harsh economic sanctions, diplomats said on Wednesday. Details of Iran's proposals, presented during two days of negotiations in Geneva with six world powers, have not been made public, and Western officials were unsure whether Tehran was prepared to go far enough to clinch a breakthrough deal. But, in a clear sign of hope, the two sides agreed to hold follow-up negotiations on Nov. 7-8 in Geneva, a Western diplomat told Reuters as the current two-day round drew to a close. After a six-month hiatus, Iran and the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany began negotiations in earnest on Tuesday to end a long, festering stand-off that could boil over into a new Middle East war. Both sides sought to dampen expectations of any rapid deal at the meeting, the first since moderate President Hassan Rohani was elected in June pledging to scrap the politics of confrontation to ease Iran's international isolation. The powers want Tehran to stop higher-grade enrichment to allay concerns that it would provide Iran a quick path to bomb-grade nuclear fuel. Tehran says it is refining uranium solely to generate more electricity for a rapidly expanding population and to produce isotopes for medicine. After the first day of talks in Geneva, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi suggested Tehran was prepared to address long-standing calls for the UN nuclear watchdog to have wider and more intrusive inspection powers. He also told the official IRNA news agency that measures related to its uranium enrichment were part of the Iranian proposal. The sequencing of any concessions by Iran and any sanctions relief by the West could prove a stumbling block en route to a landmark, verifiable deal. Western officials have repeatedly said that Iran must suspend enriching uranium to 20 percent fissile purity, their main worry, before sanctions are eased. "Are we there yet? No, but we need to keep talking," a Western diplomat said as talks resumed. — Reuters
