European officials yesterday dismissed an apparent offer by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to relaunch negotiations over Iran’s uranium stockpile as a time-wasting gambit aimed at ducking the threat of sanctions.

They said the Iranian president’s offer to export uranium in return for fuel rods, under a deal struck last October that subsequently fell apart, would not be taken seriously unless it was presented to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Diplomats in Vienna, where the IAEA has its headquarters, said last night the agency had not received any formal signal that Iran was ready to change its negotiating position.

Officials in Europe and Washington argued the timing of Ahmadinejad’s comments seemed aimed more at forestalling sanctions, under discussion at the UN security council, than at striking a deal. “My interpretation is that they’re buying time,” the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said today. “But it’s been some years – since 2007 – that we’ve been talking. And I don’t see progress … I am perplexed and bit pessimistic.”"