Iran nuclear plant

The head of Iran's nuclear agency says the Islamic Republic must be allowed to produce nuclear fuel domestically.

Gholamreza Aghazadeh's remark to reporters Saturday in Tehran effectively rules out a compromise proposal diplomats say the Europeans were considering offering Iran. He spoke in Tehran after meeting with Russian envoy Igor Ivanov.

The proposal, which the United States has denied being a part of, would permit Tehran to carry out an early stage of nuclear fuel production, but move uranium enrichment to Russia.

Both Russian and Iranian officials have refused to confirm whether Mr. Ivanov presented any new proposal to Iran.

Western nations are concerned that Iran wants to enrich uranium to high levels for use as fuel for nuclear weapons. Iran denies this, saying it seeks only to produce electricity.