Moscow: Britain and Russia both demand
that Iran give a prompt response to a United Nations-drafted
nuclear fuel deal, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband
said on a visit to Moscow on Monday.
"We both want to see a prompt response from the
Iranian regime in respect to the Tehran research reactor
proposal," Miliband said at a joint press conference with his
Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Lavrov said Moscow was counting on Tehran to approve
the deal, which was thrashed out at a meeting last month in
Vienna with representatives of Iran, Russia, France and the
United States.
"This meeting ended with an agreement... which we are
counting on all the participants, without exceptions, to
approve, including Iran," the Russian foreign minister said.
Iran has delayed giving a clear response to the draft
agreement brokered by the UN atomic energy watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is seen as a
possible solution to the Iranian nuclear standoff.
The Islamic Republic is under pressure to sign the
deal, which would see its low-enriched uranium sent to Russia
and France for conversion into fuel and sent back to a Tehran
research reactor monitored by the IAEA.
Earlier today Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki called for a review of the proposal.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, November 02, 2009, 20:55