VIENNA, Nov 24 (Reuters): The UN nuclear watchdog's governing board has reached a "broad consensus" that Iran should not be allowed to pursue nuclear enrichment, which would enable it to develop atom bombs, an EU diplomat said today.
A draft statement outlining this position was submitted by the European Union's three biggest powers, France, Britain and Germany, to the chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board as it began a two-day meeting.
"There is a broad consensus not to allow Iran in the present circumstances conducting enrichment related activities on its soil," said the draft of a summary statement to be read by the IAEA board's chairman at the conclusion of the board meeting.
The text made no mention of previous threats to refer Tehran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions, which the United States and EU have been pushing for months.
The draft says the IAEA's 35-nation board had "unanimous hope...that the negotiation process could resume, taking into account, among different ideas, the Russian proposals".
Russia has proposed allowing Tehran to conduct less-sensitive uranium processing in Iran and shifting the converted material to Russia, where a Russian-Iranian joint venture would handle the critical enrichment process, which could yield bomb-grade uranium fuel.