Joint nuclear sites useful idea for Iran - Solana

PARIS (Reuters) - International nuclear fuel production sites should be examined to help defuse a standoff between Iran and the U.N. Security Council, the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Thursday.

The Council has demanded that Iran suspend uranium enrichment -- a process that can produce fuel for nuclear power stations or, potentially, atom bombs.

Iran has ignored the demand, saying it has a right to the technology. It denies Western charges that it is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons.

"Only a multilateral solution can make it possible to end this crisis," Javier Solana, mandated by major powers to hold talks with Iran on its nuclear programme and report back this month, told a conference on European policy.

"The idea of international enrichment centres under multilateral supervision has been discussed for some time. Let us therefore try to deepen it."

Solana's report on Iran's readiness to suspend sensitive nuclear work and enter talks on its atomic programme will help the permanent Security Council members and Germany decide whether to press ahead with a further round of sanctions.

Iranian media said on Wednesday Solana would meet Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in London on Nov. 30. Solana said he would "probably" meet Jalili on that date.

U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei has put forward the idea of such an international mechanism that could provide nuclear fuel to countries and reduce the risk that states use their own enrichment sites to make weapons.

ElBaradei told a meeting of his International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) governing board on Thursday that the agency was examining proposals with a view to putting forward its own plan.