By Mark Heinrich
VIENNA -- Top European Union foreign ministers plan a declaration of dismay today over Iran's apparent thumbs-down to a Russian proposal designed to defuse its nuclear stalemate with the West, diplomats said yesterday.
Analysts said Iran now seemed confident it could win a showdown over suspicions it was seeking an atomic bomb, given opposition in the UN nuclear watchdog agency and Security Council to calls for sanctions against Tehran, as well as foreign dependence on exports of Iranian oil and gas.
Diplomats said foreign ministers of the ''EU3" group, made up of Britain, Germany, and France, would issue a statement reflecting sharp French remarks on Monday after Iran again vowed to enrich uranium on its own soil.
Iran says it needs enriched uranium for its power plants, not to make nuclear weapons.
''The Iranians may think they're in the driver's seat now, and we need to do something to show they cannot play ping-pong with us, talking about the option of resuming talks with us while insisting they will enrich themselves," a European diplomat said.
Iran says its nuclear work aims only to generate electricity for an energy-hungry economy that requires most of the oil from its large reserves to be exported for vital hard currency.
However, its concealment of nuclear activity from UN inspectors for 18 years until 2003, and a call by Iran's radical president last month for Israel to be ''wiped off the map" have fanned concern in the West about Tehran's intentions.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said a series of Iranian vows to purify uranium at home despite a new EU offer to resume talks cut off in August amounted to a unilateral rebuff of Moscow's EU-backed proposal to overcome the crisis.
Russia has proposed taking in Iranian uranium for enrichment in a joint venture, then sending it back to Iran for use in civilian reactors to minimize the chance of Tehran acquiring the expertise and technology to produce bomb-grade material.
An EU diplomat said discussions were still going on about meeting the Iranians to talk about Moscow's initiative.
''This idea is still in the frame, but I wouldn't necessarily use the word 'hope' to describe the process. The ball is in Iran's court," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Deep differences over the agenda appear to have stymied plans to resume negotiations between Britain, Germany, and France and Iran this month.
''There's no basis for talks in Vienna due to a lack of Iranian receptivity to negotiate," said the diplomat in the Austrian capital where the UN nuclear-proliferation watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is based.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said yesterday the Russian proposal was a good way to try to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table.
''Pragmatically, going through a transitional phase of a joint venture with Russia . . . I think it is a good starting point," he said in London.
In September the 35-nation IAEA board declared Iran in non-compliance with safeguards provisions of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which Tehran is a signatory.
The United States and Britain, Germany, and France lobbied for a follow-up vote to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
However, the IAEA board decided at a meeting last month to shelve such a move in favor of allowing time for diplomacy on Moscow's plan.
The decision surprised no one since developing states on the board oppose steps that might limit their own nuclear power options, while Russia and China, with deep energy ties to Iran, could veto sanctions as permanent Security Council members.
