Iran Freezes Uranium Programme

Iran said yesterday that it has frozen its uranium enrichment projects in response to pressure from the international community, which fears the programmes could culminate in a nuclear bomb.

The move by Tehran to ward off the threat of sanctions came as the director general of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, unveiled fresh revelations about the Iranian nuclear programme.

Details of the report from Dr ElBaradei were not immediately revealed, but sources said it included further "serious" evidence of an Iranian cover-up of a nuclear programme.

The signals from the UN's diplomatic circuit were that the IAEA has not uncovered hard evidence of a nuclear bomb programme, but has found troubling evidence that raises more questions.

Iran sent Dr ElBaradei a letter last night agreeing to sign an "additional protocol" to its agreements with the agency allowing UN experts to conduct snap nuclear inspections in Iran.

The concessions were announced by the powerful Iranian national security chief, Hassan Rohani, who was visiting President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, following the weekend's meeting with Dr ElBaradei in Vienna.

Russia is Iran's sole nuclear partner and Mr Rohani was rewarded by a declaration from Mr Putin that there were now no "obstacles to cooperating with Iran in the nuclear sphere" despite intense pressure from Washington to halt its nuclear assistance to Iran.

"From today we are temporarily suspending our process of uranium enrichment," said Mr Rohani.

While the US and the EU are pressing Iran to dismantle facilities at Natanz and Isfahan, it was evident from Mr Rohani's statement that this is unlikely. Instead, as a result of the weekend negotiations with the IAEA, the uranium enrichment will be suspended at Natanz for several months while the UN nuclear inspectors investigate.

An IAEA meeting on November 20 will decide how to proceed on the issue of Iran. The Americans are pushing for the IAEA to declare Iran non-compliant with its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and to report it to the UN security council, which could decree punitive sanctions.

But given the Iranian concessions yesterday and an agreement between Tehran and EU foreign ministers, the Americans' push for a tough response now looks doomed.