Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a new way to help resolve the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program during an extraordinary meeting with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s chief nuclear negotiator said Wednesday.
The negotiator, Ali Larijani, told reporters that Putin, who was granted an audience with Khamenei on Tuesday evening, “offered a special proposal.” Neither the Iranians nor the Russians would disclose any details, but Larijani said the Iranian side was studying it.
“One of the issues he brought up was his view on the nuclear issue,” Larijani said, according to the ISNA news agency. “We are reviewing it now.”
State-run television and news agencies quoted Khamenei as telling Putin, “We will think about what you said and about your proposal.”
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Earlier, Moscow had proposed to enrich uranium in Russia for use in Iranian reactors, assuring that Iran would not produce the highly enriched uranium needed for nuclear weapons. Tehran rejected the idea.
As Iran’s most senior official, Khamenei has the final word on state matters, and his decision to see Putin — who was in Tehran for a summit of five Caspian Sea nations — was regarded as significant in itself. Even Mohamed ElBaradei, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, did not see Khamenei when he visited last year.