New Delhi: At the IAEA board meeting in Vienna on Thursday, Cold War rival Russia brought the US and all the other sides together. The board decided to give Iran more time to consider the Russian proposal.
The proposal says, Iran should send its Uranium to Russia, to convert it to enriched Uranium?at a plant Iran would have a stake in.
The idea is endorsed by countries that accuse Iran of trying to produce weapons instead of energy at Iranian plants.
So far Iran has been defiant, but now it has turned meek, agreeing to the IAEA's demand that it resume deadlocked nuclear talks with the EU-three?Britain, Germany and France about the Russian proposal.
"The report to the Security Council will come and it will come at the time of our choosing," United States ambassador to IAEA Gregory Shulte, said.
"And that time will be soon, if Iran continues to defy the board?s calls to cooperate fully with the IAEA to suspend those activities that give the world such concern," Shulte added.
"I would like to emphasise that Iran fully cooperates with the agency. We are prepared to follow the path of dialogue and negotiation with other countries including EU three," Iranian ambassador to IAEA Mohammad Mehdi Akhunzadeh.
The deferral of the vote on Iran at the IAEA also averted a standoff for the UPA government with its Left allies who demanded that India must not vote with the US.
India has opposed the Iran nuclear issue being referred to the Security Council and hoped that a way would emerge to reconcile Tehran's need for using nuclear energy for development.
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