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 The Associated Press, citing diplomats, said on Friday Tehran and
Washington had tentatively agreed on a formula to ship to Russia
much of the material that could potentially lead to manufacture of
atomic arms by the Islamic republic.
It said negotiators had drawn up a catalogue for the first time at
their December meeting in Geneva outlining areas of potential accord
and differences in their 12-year nuclear dispute.
Iran's foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said "no
agreement on any nuclear topic" had been reached.
"Such news is spread out of political motives and its goal is to
tarnish the climate of the talks and make it more complicated to
reach a settlement," the state IRNA news agency quoted her as
saying.
The semi-official ISNA agency, citing an "informed source", also
denied the report: "The topic of transferring (enriched) uranium
abroad has been circulating for a while, but we haven't had any
agreement in this regard." The head of Iran's atomic energy agency, Ali Akbar Salehi, told
worshippers at Friday prayers that the long nuclear conflict was
drawing to an end.
"Have no doubt that the nuclear issue will be resolved in Iran's
favour and we will soon celebrate Iran's victory," he was quoted as
saying by Mehr News.
Iran and the six powers "P5+1" -- the United States, Russia, China,
France, Britain and Germany -- are to resume low-level talks on
Tehran's nuclear activities in Geneva on Jan 15, but wide gaps
remain in their positions.
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An interim accord struck on Nov. 24, 2013, yielded steps by Iran to
curb aspects of its sensitive nuclear activity, including
higher-grade enrichment, in return for a measure of relief from
economic sanctions. But last November, the two sides failed for a
second time to meet a self-imposed deadline on ending the standoff
and extended the period until June 30, 2015.
Among sticking points are the scope of uranium enrichment, the
number of centrifuges and pace and sequencing of sanctions relief.
Iran insists its programme is peaceful and has urged Western powers
to drop "unrealistic" demands hindering a breakthrough. The United
States and its allies are seeking fool-proof guarantees and
safeguards.
(Reporting by Mehrdad Balali; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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