A new round of talks may bring a way out of the stalemate over Iran's nuclear programme, according to dpa. Iran was willing to revive the six-party talks and work to resolve outstanding issues with the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said on Friday evening in Vienna after meeting with Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani. "Dr Larijani committed himself and Iran to resolve all outstanding issues," ElBaradei said. "I hope in the next few weeks ... we should be able to draw a plan of action which I hope we should be able to conclude within two months and then start the implementation." Further deails would be released after a meeting between Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Saturday in Lisbon. "These all need to come out of a political understanding with Mr Solana," Larijani cautioned. If that understanding could be reached, "this could easily be done." ElBaradei and Larijani met on Friday at the IAEA's Vienna headquarters to discuss ways out of the impasse over Iran's nuclear programme. Offering no specifics of the modalities, or if this included the tricky issues of suspension and Security Council sanctions, Larijani said Iran was ready to work on an "appropriate framework." Talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany broke off in August 2005. Defying UN resolutions demanding a freeze of its uranium enrichment programme, Iran has forged ahead extending its enrichment capacities despite renewed sanction threats by the Security Council. Iran is currently operating about 2,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment, expecting to increase this number to 3,000 by late July. Larijani again asked the West to "face the reality" that Iran mastered the capabilities of uranium enrichment and to show more flexibility in view of those facts on the ground. In a report to the UN Security Council last month, the IAEA warned Iran's refusal to cooperate with Agency inspectors investigating its nuclear programme, which the country kept hidden for 18 years, is leading to a "deterioration" of the IAEA's knowledge. Enriched uranium can be used to fuel nuclear power plants, but if enriched to a higher degree becomes building material for nuclear bombs. There are international concerns that Iran clandestinely pursues nuclear weapons, a charge the oil-rich country denies, saying its programme is aimed solely towards generating electricity. Teheran also on Friday denied reports quoting Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi that Iran had already enriched 100 kilogrammes of uranium. According to the Iranian news agency ISNA, which had carried the initial report, the interior ministry's public relations office denied the ISNA report and said that the minister only referred to the progress and potentials of Iran's nuclear programmes but gave no details on centrifuges or quantity of enriched uranium. Experts say that about 3,000 centrifuges running for one year are enough to produce enough enriched uranium for one nuclear weapon, but point out that Iran may still be years away from the expertise to build bombs should they wish to do so.
