PARIS (AP) - A top Iranian nuclear official proposed Tuesday that France create a consortium to enrich uranium in Iran, saying that could satisfy international demands for outside oversight of Tehran's nuclear program. French officials distanced themselves from the idea, which an analyst called an Iranian attempt to stall or divert attention from mounting tensions over its nuclear activities. But the European Union official leading negotiations with Iran over its atomic program said the proposal was worth a closer look.
"To be able to arrive at a solution, we have just had an idea. We propose that France create a consortium for the production in Iran of enriched uranium," Mohammad Saeedi, deputy chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told France-Info radio.
"That way France, through the companies Eurodif and Areva, could control in a tangible way our enrichment activities," he said.
Eurodif is a branch of Areva, a French state-controlled nuclear manufacturer, and was created in part with Iranian backing in the 1970s.
World powers—including France and the United States—are in a standoff with Iran over its nuclear program, which Tehran insists is aimed at producing electricity, but which many nations fear is aimed at making nuclear weapons. Iran ignored a U.N.-imposed Aug. 31 deadline to suspend uranium enrichment or face possible sanctions.
A senior British official said preparations were under way for the U.N. Security Council to discuss sanctions.
The official said he believed that any sanctions would start by focusing on preventing the transfer of all goods that could be used for Iran's enrichment and ballistic missile programs, not on the country's economy or oil exports.
"Unless there is a sudden, unexpected change of heart by the Iranians, we can expect this to move to New York in the coming week or so," the official said on condition of anonymity, in keeping with government rules regarding background briefings.
Saeedi gave no other details of his proposal, which appeared to be an Iranian initiative. An official at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran referred all questions on the subject to the French side.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said he was surprised by the idea, which he called "totally new for us."
Mattei said any proposals should wait until after negotiations are under way and emphasized that the current priority was talks between Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Solana gave a cautious response to the proposal, saying the idea of a consortium had long been discussed in his talks with Larijani.
"It's an interesting thing, but it's difficult to put it in place," Solana said on the sidelines of an EU defense ministers' meeting in Finland.
Iranian state television, in a commentary Tuesday, said the proposal amounted to a "a test ... to assess the extent of the French government's realism and flexibility."
It said timing of the proposal—following talks between Larijani and Solana—"shows Iran's determination in seeking a negotiated settlement" over Tehran's nuclear activities.
Still, the proposal was unlikely to be accepted by the six nations—the five U.N. Security Council members plus Germany—trying to persuade Iran to suspend enrichment because it would leave the program on Iranian soil—something the six nations oppose. Enrichment can create both nuclear fuel or arm nuclear warheads with fissile material.
Moscow has sought to defuse the dispute with Iran by offering to conduct all of Iran's enrichment on Russian soil, but Tehran has refused.
Immediate sanctions, favored by the U.S. and Britain, have been resisted by France, to some extent, and by Russia and China—both major commercial partners of Iran.
Georges Le Guelte, a nuclear expert at France's Institute for International and Strategic Research, called Saeedi's announcement "a diversion tactic."
He said the international community was unlikely to agree to such a deal because the enrichment would still take place on Iranian territory.
"This is something that would be almost as dangerous as leaving the Iranians to do it alone," he said. "The day that (Iran's president) thinks the international situation would permit, he will show Areva and Eurodif the door and say, 'Now I will take care of the plant.'"
Areva spokesman Charles Hufnagel expressed surprise at Saeedi's announcement.
"We are not involved in any negotiations" about a possible consortium for enriching Iranian uranium, he said. He added that any discussions involving nuclear cooperation with Iran would be at the government level because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Iran's participation in Eurodif was reduced after the 1979 revolution, and now Iran has a "purely financial" stake of about 11 percent through a joint French-Iranian company called Sofidif, Hufnagel said.
Saeedi gave no other details of his proposal, and it was not clear when he made his comments to France-Info.
Russia is building the Islamic republic's first nuclear power plant in the southern port of Bushehr under an $800 million contract. Moscow says it has worked out a deal with Iran for all of Bushehr's spent fuel to be sent to Russia, eliminating the possibility that Iran could reprocess it for weapons.
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Associated Press writer Thomas Wagner contributed to this report from London.
