Moscow formally offers to move Tehran's enrichment program to Russia

Russia ratcheted up the pressure on Iran to come to a compromise with the international community on the issue of its nuclear program after making a formal offer Saturday to move its uranium enrichment program to Russia.

The Russian Embassy in Tehran on Saturday handed over a formal note containing the offer to the Iranian authorities, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The note said that "an earlier Russian offer to Iran to establish a joint Russian-Iranian enrichment venture in Russia remains valid," the ministry added.

Russia initially made the offer to Iran last month during the visit of Russian Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov, to Tehran. To this point, however, Iran has publically denied receiving such an offer while insisting that, in any case, it has the right to enrich uranium on its own soil.

The enrichment of uranium is a decisive phase in the process of manufacturing nuclear weapons.

Iran has insisted that it would enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel domestically despite international efforts to curb its atomic program.

Now that Russia's offer has become official, pressure on the regime to come to an arrangement increases in the run-up to discussions with Iran which are scheduled for January.

Iran says its nuclear program is only aimed at producing electricity, but the United States accuses Iran of running a covert atomic weapons program. Washington is pushing for Tehran to be brought before the United Nations Security Council, where it could face economic sanctions for violating a nuclear arms control treaty.

Germany, France and Britain have suggested shifting Iran's enrichment activities to Russia, where nuclear material would be enriched only to fuel levels and not to weapons grade. But Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of the Atomic Organization of Iran, has dismissed the offer as unacceptable earlier this month.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Saturday's formal proposal represented a "Russian contribution into the search for mutually acceptable solutions in the context of settling the situation around the Iranian nuclear program by political and diplomatic means."

	Russian Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov (Left) and Iranian nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, who is secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, attending a news conference after their talks in Tehran last month. (AP)