TEHRAN, Iran – Iran said it was studying a Russian proposal that the two countries enrich uranium in Russian territory in its most conciliatory remarks yet on the offer, though it insisted yesterday on its right to carry out enrichment at home.

The Russian proposal, backed by the Europeans and America, is aimed at getting Iran to move uranium enrichment completely out of its territory to ensure that its nuclear program cannot produce weapons. Enrichment can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the material needed for a warhead.

“Russia’s proposal is to set up a joint Iranian-Russian company to enrich uranium in Russian territory,” Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Javad Vaidi, said.

The Russian proposal puts Iran in a difficult position, since it has repeatedly refused to give up enrichment but is reluctant to reject directly an offer from Moscow, a long-time ally that is putting the finishing touches on the first nuclear power plant in southern Iran.

The Europeans are hoping the compromise can bring a breakthrough in deadlocked negotiations aimed at ensuring Iran cannot produce nuclear weapons. Talks between Iran and Britain, France, and Germany resumed earlier this month, making little progress, and are to continue in January.

Washington is pushing for Tehran to be brought before the U.N. Security Council, where it could face economic sanctions over the dispute. Russia and China, which have vetoes on the council, oppose referral and the West has stopped short of forcing the matter.

Mr. Vaidi said the Russian proposal has to be seen in the context of an exchange of nuclear technology between countries that have signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. “An important factor will be the amount of Iranian share in the project,” Mr. Vaidi said in a written interview yesterday with the reliable semiofficial Iranian Students News Agency, ISNA. A copy of the written interview was made available to the Associated Press.

He insisted that the Russian proposal cannot deny Iran its rights under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, including the right to carry out its own uranium enrichment.

“Whatever meaning the Russian proposal may have, it won’t mean … denying Iran its treaty rights,” he said.

Vaidi is deputy head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, the country’s top security decision-making body, which handles the nuclear negotiations.

A hard-line lawmaker, Saeed Aboutaleb, denounced Russia’s proposal as a “dirty trick.”

“Russia is in close coordination with Europeans. … This [Russian] proposal is unacceptable,” Mr. Aboutaleb said.

He said there was no reason for Iran to move its uranium enrichment facilities to Russian territory while it had the scientific ability to do it at home.

“If we give up this [uranium enrichment], we will have no response to future generations,” he said.

The nuclear program is regarded as a source of national pride in Iran, and any government abandoning enrichment would likely lose support.