Iran Seeks to Pour Balm on West's Nuclear Concerns

Reuters:

Iran's top nuclear negotiator sought to soothe growing international unease over its nuclear programme during a visit to Pakistan on Wednesday, days after a U.N. watchdog confirmed Tehran had resumed uranium conversion.

Ali Larijani has been seeking support from non-Western nations for Iran's determination to continue what it says is a programme designed for power generation and not atomic weapons. READ MORE

"Having stated this principle that we are determined to have nuclear technology... We are fully prepared to have any international negotiations, discussions to remove the international concerns," Larijani said after meeting Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a fresh initiative that will "facilitate work to assure the international community of the exclusively peaceful (nature) of our activities," Larijani told reporters, without expanding on what that initiative contained.

After his talks with Aziz, Larijani was due to meet Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri.

Iran is facing mounting diplomatic pressure after an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report issued last Friday confirmed Tehran had resumed uranium conversion, one of several activities previously suspended under a deal with three European Union nations -- France, Britain and Germany.

Larijani said his government was continuing to discuss its nuclear programme with the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, and hold negotiations with other countries.

But, a senior EU diplomat told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday that the negotiating process begun with Iran in Paris last November, appeared to be at an end.

Iran had "canceled" this meeting just days ago after officials from Pakistan and Israel met in Turkey, to the alarm of Iran. It appears they changed their mind, fast.