The U.S. and fellow permanent U.N. Security Council members have told Iran they will hold off on new sanctions if it halts expanding its uranium enrichment works as they seek to restart talks over Tehran's nuclear program, diplomats said Friday.
According to the AP, they said the Iranian government has yet to respond to the new proposal, which was made earlier this month by the six powers. The offer reflects a readiness to accept Tehran's current program in a bid to ease tensions and create an atmosphere for negotiations.
It picks up on the idea first raised by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency who called for a "time out" both on enrichment and on a third round of U.N. sanctions against Iran.
On Friday, diplomats said Britain drafted the proposal that was submitted to Tehran earlier this month on behalf of the U.S., the three European nations, China and Russia. They said the offer was delivered by the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, to Ali Larijani, Tehran's chief international negotiator.
"Sadly they did not (yet) take it up," said a European diplomat familiar with the issue. "It would only be a `time out' because it is limited," he said.
