Yesterday Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Mostafavi held talks in Pretoria with Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad and Abdul Minty, SA’s representative on the IAEA board.

Earlier in the day a senior British diplomat, John Sawers, who has negotiated directly with the Iranians along with the French and Germans as part of the European Union Three, (EU-3), held separate talks at the foreign affairs department.

The IAEA board will meet in Vienna on February 2 to decide whether to refer Tehran to the UN Security Council following Iran’s decision to break IAEA seals at its Natanz nuclear enrichment facility and resume its research programme.

Some countries fear that this is a step towards Iran developing nuclear weapons.

Referral to the council for discussion is an implicit act of criticism. The council could also authorise sanctions, although this would require co-operation from China, which often shows a reluctance to interfere in the “internal matters” of countries.

The EU-3 has committed itself to a diplomatic resolution in the standoff with Iran and has not yet advocated UN sanctions.

However, the EU-3 and the US want Iran to be referred to the UN Security Council.

Sawers and his counterparts from Germany and France are visiting other countries that make up the 35-member IAEA board ahead of the meeting to lobby for their position.

Late last year the US urged SA to speak out against Iran’s nuclear programme in order to isolate Tehran.

While SA only has one vote on the board, it is an influential member of the nonaligned group on the IAEA board, which tends to vote as a bloc.

SA’s influence is a result of it being the only nuclear power to have disarmed.

Last September the board voted to condemn Iran for its nuclear programme, but SA along with other nonaligned countries, except for India, abstained.

There has been no indication from Pretoria on which way SA will vote on February 2.

Journalists were prevented from asking questions ahead of the meeting between Pahad and Mostafavi at the Union Buildings.

After the meeting, SA appealed in a statement “to all parties involved to refrain from any action that could further increase tension”.

SA denies it has proposed a resolution to end the standoff. However, what has become known as the “South African proposal” involves SA selling Iran uranium-derived yellow cake, which would then be processed into the feedstock gas for enrichment by Iran. This would then be stored by SA, to prevent the enrichment of weapons-grade material. The US opposes any enrichment activity by Iran.

SA has also backed a Moscow proposal to allow Tehran to conduct its enrichment activities in Russia.

SA maintains that countries that do not possess nuclear weapons have the right to enrich their own uranium in accordance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.