Saturday, January 28 2006 20:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Tehran: Iran urged Western powers today(Jan 28,2006) not to immediately refer a dispute over its nuclear programme to the UN Security Council, arguing talks with Russia on a potential compromise needed 'more time'.

Moscow's idea to enrich uranium outside Iran is seen as a way out of a growing crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions, and has received cautious and conditional support from the United States and European Union.

"This proposal is under review," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters.

"On some factors like increasing the number of partners, we have reached an agreement. Regarding the place or places, we are still studying it," he asserted, adding a second round of talks would be held in Moscow on February 16.

"We are seriously studying it. This proposal should be comprehensive, so it becomes a solution for the nuclear case. We need more time: we should continue the intensive talks until the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting in March," he said.

Russia's idea is that the sensitive nuclear fuel work which could potentially be diverted to produce nuclear weapons -is conducted outside the Islamic republic as a way of preventing Iran for acquiring bomb-making technology but also guaranteeing its access to nuclear energy.

But the EU and US still want to see Iran referred to the UN Security Council when the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors holds an emergency meeting in Vienna on February 2.

They also want Iran to return to a full suspension of other fuel cycle work namely enrichment research which Iran restarted on January 10 and uranium conversion which was restarted last August.

Russia has huge economic interest in Iran's nuclear programme and is reluctant to call in the Security Council next week, preferring for the Council to be merely 'informed' of developments.

But Mottaki said the meeting 'should pass' without any move against Iran 'in order to reach a comprehensive understanding for the March meeting.'

He also warned that 'referring or informing the case to the UN Security Council carries the same meaning for us'.

"Regarding the possible informing of the UN Security Council as a result of the February 2nd meeting of the IAEA, the Iranian Government would be obliged to stop voluntary measures," he warned.

This warning has already been spelled out as comprising of a resumption of industrial-scale enrichment and a halt in the application of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty's additional protocol giving the IAEA more powers of inspection.

The United States, however, cautioned Friday that is was not 100 percent supportive of Russia's proposed compromise.

"The United States has said that we find the Russian proposal to be interesting and it might be a good way to proceed with negotiations. We've never said that we accept every detail in that proposal," said Nicholas Burns, the assistant secretary of state for political affairs.

Washington, he said "Does not believe that Iran should have the ability to exercise any process along the nuclear fuel cycle inside Iran itself."