Six world powers consider letting Iran keep partial atomic program

ANKARA, Turkey -- The United States and other world powers may be ready to allow Iran to keep some of its uranium enrichment program intact instead of demanding its complete dismantling, foreign government officials said Tuesday.

Officials said some willingness to compromise might advance talks today in the Turkish capital between top Iranian envoy Ali Larijani and Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief.

Recognizing that Iran would never accept a complete freeze, the powers are considering "a new definition of enrichment," one diplomat said. Under the proposal, Iran would could keep some of its program intact without actually producing enriched uranium.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack denied that the United States was "considering any proposals that would allow the Iranians to retain any enrichment-related activities."

But another U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity suggested there was potentially more flexibility in Washington's position.

"We purposely left open the possibility that direct talks could happen by being a little less committed to the requirements to have a meeting," said the official. He alluded to previous demands of an all-encompassing freeze on all enrichment related activities.

Iran is running more than 1,300 centrifuge machines at its underground facility at Natanz. Its ultimate goal is to run 50,000 centrifuges a year.

The United States might accept a version of "cold standby" -- allowing a set number of centrifuges to remain standing and assembled in series but not running, a diplomat said.

The six powers -- United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany -- also want to reduce assembled and hooked-up centrifuges to less than 1,000.