The United States, together with the EU-3 -- Britain, France and Germany, have approved a new offer to be made to Iran in a last-ditch effort to head off a confrontation over its suspected nuclear weapons program, the New York Times reported Thursday.

The proposal would permit Iran to conduct very limited nuclear activities on its own soil, but would move the process of enriching all of its uranium to Russia, unidentified American and European officials were quoted as saying.

The proposal was discussed at length on Tuesday during a meeting between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations' nuclear monitoring agency, the officials said.

ElBaradei, who won the Nobel Peace Prize this year, will take the proposal to Iran on behalf of the United States and the EU-3, the officials said. However, one senior official deeply involved in developing the proposal said: "Our expectations are low that the Iranians will accept."

The negotiations are being held in secret, and as the proposal has not yet been presented to the Iranians, the officials of various countries who discussed it would not agree to be identified, the New York Times reported.

Rice, the officials said, insisted that Iran be given a deadline of two weeks for its response, before the IAEA board meets on Nov. 24.

The United States has accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is entirely intended for peaceful purposes.

(Xinhua News Agency November 11, 2005)