DHAKA: Western governments are considering allowing Iran to continue some uranium enrichment, as part of a possible deal to resolve a decade-old dispute that Tehran says it wants to reach within six months, a senior EU diplomat said.

The new stance, a reaction to Iran president Hassan Rohani’s overtures to the West, would mean easing a long-standing demand that Iran suspend all enrichment, due to concerns Tehran could be developing nuclear weapons.

In an interview with media, Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevicius said, ‘I believe part of the game is that if the Iranians prove that whatever they are doing is peaceful, it will, as I understand, be possible for them to conduct it’, reports The Jerusalem Post.

‘It’s conditional. It is not a done deal, but nevertheless it is a possibility to explore,’ he said. ‘Thanks to this rapprochement. How it will look, we don`t know.’

Lithuania holds the rotating presidency of the European Union until the end of this year, giving Linkevicius a closer insight into many internal policy debates.

A series of UN Security Council resolutions call on Iran to halt enrichment. One of them demands ‘full and sustained suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities’.

Iran has refused to comply, saying its membership of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty (NPT) gives it the right to pursue peaceful nuclear technology. That refusal has drawn several rounds of UN and Western sanctions.

BDST: 2002 HRS, OCT 02, 2013
RoR/SRS