Iranian Envoy Denies Deal

Reuters:

Soltanieh says Iran and Russia have not reached uranium enrichment agreement. Iranian state radio reported that Iran and Russia had reached a basic deal to enrich uranium in a joint venture, but Iran's Ali-Ashghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) later on Saturday denied the existence of a deal.


Moscow, while joining Washington and European powers in calling on Iran to end enrichment, has made it clear it would not at this stage back imposing sanctions on the Islamic state.

Iran announced earlier this month that it had produced its first batch of enriched uranium.

Video - Jim Drury reports

SOUNDBITE: Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency Ali Asghar Soltanieh, saying (English):

"I said there was no discussion on the Russian deal and therefore there is no agreement. This has been maybe the misinterpretation from English to Russian or so. We have not had such a discussion." READ MORE