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Russia, Iran reach partial agreement on uranium enrichment

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TEHRAN, January 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and Iran have reached agreement on certain points of Russia's proposal to form a joint venture to enrich uranium on Russian territory for Iran's nuclear energy program, the Iranian foreign minister said Saturday.

"Russia's plan is at a stage of serious consideration, and negotiations on it are ongoing. Agreement between Tehran and Moscow has already been reached on certain points of Russia's proposals, in particular on increasing the number of participants in the project," Manouchehr Mottaki said.

The countries have not yet discussed proposals on the location of the uranium enrichment program.

The Iranian foreign minister said there was no reason to refer Iran's nuclear file to the UN Security Council.

"If at the upcoming meeting of the IAEA heads a decision is reached on referring Iran's nuclear file to the UN Security Council, the government of the Islamic Republic, in accordance with a parliamentary resolution, will be forced to end its voluntary cooperation with the IAEA," Mottaki said.

Russia, which is building an $800-million power plant in Iran, has defended the country's right to nuclear energy, but expressed its "disappointment" with Tehran's decision earlier in January to end a two-year moratorium on nuclear research and resume activity at its nuclear facilities.

Some countries, led by the U.S., suspect Tehran of pursuing a secret weapons program and have been pushing the referral of the Iranian nuclear file to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic if it is found to have been in breach of its international commitments. Iran has consistently stated that it only wants nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

In a move seen as compromise to diffuse tensions around the situation, Moscow has offered to conduct uranium enrichment for Iran on Russian territory, a proposal which Ali Larijani, the secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, has welcomed.

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