Iran to Stop Nuclear Program

A European diplomat said that formal reactions could be expected on Monday from Britain, France and Germany -- the three EU states spearheading the negotiations with Iran -- but added that signs were good.

"This is very good news," he told AFP news agency, after the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said it received an official letter from Iran confirming the suspension. "It opens the way to start a new chapter of relations" between Iran and the EU, which has sought to remain constructively engaged with Tehran in contrast to the hardline US stance, he added.

He cautioned that the EU still has to digest the details of the agreement, and that London, Paris and Berlin are likely to make a coordinated response along with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

But from initial reports it appears that "the impasse in which we were last week...is over and (the Iranians) fully agree to what has been negotiated," the diplomat said. In Vienna a source close to the IAEA said Iran has agreed "to implement a full suspension of its uranium enrichment program," the process that makes fuel for nuclear reactors but also the explosive core of atomic bombs.

The IAEA is to mention Iran's agreement in a report to be released Monday ahead of a board meeting Nov. 25 that will decide whether to send Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions, as the United States wants.