LONDON (AFP) — Arab states in the Gulf have come up with a compromise aimed at defusing the crisis between the West and Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, a specialised Middle East publication said on Thursday.
The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council has proposed to Iran that it create a multinational consortium to provide enriched uranium to the Islamic republic as a way of resolving the standoff, Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) reported on its website.
It said Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told MEED in London that the plan would mean Tehran could continue developing nuclear energy while removing fears that the project was a cover for an atomic weapons drive.
"We have proposed a solution, which is to create a consortium for all users of enriched uranium in the Middle East," he said.
"(We will) do it in a collective manner through a consortium that will distribute according to needs, give each plant its own necessary amount, and ensure no use of this enriched uranium for atomic weapons," MEED quoted Faisal as saying.
The five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- and Germany will meet on Friday in London to discuss strengthening UN sanctions against Tehran.
The Security Council has already passed two resolutions imposing sanctions in response to Iran's failure to heed ultimatums to halt enrichment activities and the United States is pushing for a third.
Under the reported GCC plan, its members -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) -- would establish a uranium enrichment plant in a neutral country outside the Middle East.
The plant would produce nuclear fuel that would then be provided to Middle East nations seeking to harness atomic energy.
Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya and Yemen as well as the six GCC states have all said that they want to pursue peaceful nuclear projects.
Faisal told MEED he believed the new plant "should be in a neutral country -- Switzerland, for instance."
"Any plant in the Middle East that needs enriched uranium would get its quota. I don't think other Arab states would refuse. In fact, since the decision of the GCC to enter into this industry, the other Arab countries have expressed a desire to be part of the proposal."
He added that Iran was considering the GCC offer.
"We hope the Iranians will accept this proposal. We continue to talk to them and urge them not only to look at the issue from the perspective of the needs of Iran for energy, but also in the interests of the security of the region," he said.
"The US is not involved, but I don't think it (would be) hostile to this, and it would resolve a main area of tension between the West and Iran."
Meanwhile, Iranian officials said they were satisfied with the results of their latest talks with the UN atomic agency.
The talks were part of a deal the International Atomic Energy Agency clinched in August for Iran to answer outstanding questions over its atomic programme so the IAEA can conclude a four-year investigation into its nature.
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