International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei today proposed a draft plan for France and Russia to refine about 75 percent of Iran's low-enriched uranium for use at a medical research reactor in Tehran, temporarily addressing international concerns that such material could be converted for use in a nuclear weapon, Reuters reported (see GSN, Oct. 20).
(Oct. 21) -
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, left, confers today with another U.N. official. ElBaradei today presented a draft plan for Iran to send much of its low-enriched uranium to other countries for further refinement (Samuel Kubani/Getty Images).
The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog asked the governments of Iran, France, Russia and the United States to give their formal responses to the proposal by the end of the week.
ElBaradei presented the plan on the third day of negotiations in Vienna, Austria, aimed at hammering out details of the proposal, which the sides had tentatively agreed to in multilateral talks earlier this month. This week's session was snarled, though, by Iran's stated refusal to deal with France under a potential agreement. Tehran has also hinted that it would refuse to send any uranium abroad and would only buy additional material from other countries.
"I have circulated a draft agreement that in my judgment reflects a balanced approach to how to move forward. The deadline for the parties to give, I hope, an affirmation action is Friday," ElBaradei said. "I cross my fingers that by Friday we have an OK by all the parties concerned."
"Everybody is aware (this) transaction is a very important confidence-building measure that can defuse a crisis going on for a number of years, and open space for (further) negotiations," he said.
To address Tehran's opposition to French participation, ElBaradei proposed a compromise that would allow Paris to carry out activities for the agreement under contract with Russia.
"There have been a lot of technical, legal and policy issues, issues of confidence and trust and that is why it has taken us some time (to get the draft accord)," he said. "I very much hope that people see the big picture -- that this agreement could pave the way for a complete normalization of relations between Iran and the international community."
Iran expressed general support for the negotiation process, but gave no hint as to whether it might accept the deal.
"We have to thoroughly study this text and ... come back and reflect our opinion and suggestions or comments in order to have an amicable solution at the end of the day," said Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Tehran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency. "We welcome this event, we are fully cooperating" (Heinrich/Westall, Reuters, Oct. 21).
Some U.N. nuclear watchdog officials privately expressed skepticism that Iran would consider negotiating away its capability to withdraw from international nonproliferation safeguards and rapidly enrich enough weapon-grade uranium to power at least one nuclear weapon, the New York Times reported.
“That’s their main leverage in the world. Even if they don’t want a weapon, that’s the main thing they have going for them, other than oil,” one high-level IAEA source said (David Sanger, New York Times, Oct. 20).
Even if Iran did agree to send 2,600 pounds of its low-enriched uranium abroad, as the draft deal proposes, the nation's indigenous enrichment program could replace that quantity "in little over a year," David Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security, told the Associated Press. Such a concession would give Western powers a limited negotiating window to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear-weapon capability (George Jahn, Associated Press/Washington Post, Oct. 21).
Meanwhile, 50 U.S. lawmakers issued a letter yesterday calling on President Barack Obama to continue imposing financial penalties on non-U.S. firms holding stakes of at least $20 million in Iranian energy projects, as mandated by the 1996 Iran Sanctions Act, Agence France-Presse reported.
"As you continue to engage the Iranian government in negotiations about their nuclear program, we urge you to prepare other measures that can be used if diplomacy cannot resolve this conflict," said the group headed by Representative Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Representative Ron Klein (D-Fla.).
Trade between Iran and U.S. companies is strictly regulated under U.S. law (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Oct. 20).
Elsewhere, a Russian official said today that Moscow would not incur a significant financial loss if it canceled the planned delivery of an advanced air-defense system to Iran, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Experts have expressed concern that Iran could use the Russian-built S-300 defenses to defend its nuclear facilities from potential airstrikes.Tehran is believed to be prepared to spend $800 million for the technology.
"Although the contract was signed several years ago, Russia has not confirmed its entry into force yet. Therefore Iran has not made any payments under this contract," the official told Interfax.
Still, an independent decision by Moscow to cancel the deal is unlikely, the official said. "A lot will depend on political circumstances since the contract is no longer seen as a routine commercial deal" (Xinhua News Agency, Oct. 21).