Iran today indicated it was still open to sending some of its low-enriched uranium to other countries for further processing, a key element of a U.N. proposal aimed at delaying Tehran's ability to produce enough material for a nuclear weapon, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Oct. 23).
(Oct. 26) -
International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors arrive at an airport in Vienna, Austria, to depart for Iran on Saturday. The team yesterday began examining Iran's Qum enrichment facility for evidence it was intended to produce nuclear-weapon material (Samuel Kubani/Getty Images).
Iran's response to the proposal "will be made in the next few days," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said. France, Russia and the United States have indicated their support for the plan, proposed last week by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei at the end of three days of talks between the four nations in Vienna, Austria.
Iranian officials, last week, had suggested they were opposed to the proposal.
"To supply fuel, we may purchase it like in the past, or we may deliver part of (the low-enriched uranium) fuel which we currently don't need," Mottaki said. Under ElBaradei's plan, France and Russia would refine Iranian uranium for use in a medical research reactor in Tehran.
Mottaki ruled out suspending Iran's uranium enrichment program, an effort that has concerned Western powers because it could produce nuclear-weapon material in addition to low-enriched uranium suitable for use in nuclear power reactors. Tehran has maintained that its nuclear program is strictly civilian in nature.
"Iran's legal peaceful nuclear activities will continue and this issue (Iran's enrichment program) has nothing to do with supplying fuel for the Tehran reactor," he said (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press I/Washington Post, Oct. 26).
Washington on Friday urged Tehran to present a "positive response" to the offer.
“This is a real opportunity for Iran to help address some of the real concerns of the international community about its nuclear program, and at the same time still provide for the humanitarian needs of the Iranian people,” said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly.
“The international community has been waiting a long time for Iran to address some of our real concerns about their intentions. But all along we have said the IAEA is taking the lead on this and we hope there are no more delays than these next few days,” he said (U.S. State Department release, Oct. 23).
Obama administration officials fear that Iran might continue haggling over the enrichment offer as it produces more low-enriched uranium that it could convert into nuclear-weapon material, the New York Times reported yesterday.
Despite U.S. misgivings, the U.N. proposal has accomplished the administration's objective of sparking public debate in Tehran over the nation's nuclear policy, according to the Times.
"For the first time, the Iranians are really on the defensive,” said former U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, a top adviser on Iran for the Bush administration (David Sanger, New York Times, Oct. 25).
Former top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani suggested Saturday that Western powers do not intend to live up to their end of the proposed agreement, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"My guess is that the Americans have made a secret deal with certain countries to take (low-)enriched uranium away from us under the pretext of providing nuclear fuel. We hope Iranian officials will pay due attention to this issue," said Larijani, now the speaker of Iran's parliament.
"Is Iran concerned the countries that have suggested to supply the required fuel for the Tehran reactor would delay, postpone or cancel a possible contract?" added Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a conservative Iranian lawmaker. "These are the possibilities that we have to consider and be cautious about in our dealings with those countries" (Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times, Oct. 25).
"Because the West has repeatedly violated agreements in the past, Iran should send its low-enriched uranium abroad gradually and in several phases and necessary guarantees should be taken," state media quoted Boroujerdi as saying today, according to Reuters.
"It is better if Iran purchases 20 percent-enriched fuel from Russia or any other supplier," he said (Reuters I, Oct. 26).
Still, not even full Iranian acceptance of the uranium transfer proposal would resolve international concerns about Tehran's nuclear intentions, said David Albright, head of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security.
"In the end, this (Vienna) deal doesn't get to the major issues, and if you can't solve this test, which is an easy win-win -- how are you going to take up the main issue, which is enriching uranium? They (Iran) are on a trajectory leading to nuclear weapons. Whether it is six years or one year, Iran is headed that way," Albright told the Christian Science Monitor (Robert Marquand, Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 23).
France expressed fear that failing to resolve the nuclear dispute could prompt Israel to take military action against Iran's nuclear facilities, Reuters reported.
"They (Israel) will not tolerate an Iranian bomb. We know that, all of us. So that is an additional risk and that is why we must decrease the tension and solve the problem. Hopefully we are going to stop this race to a confrontation," French Foreign Minister Kouchner told the London Telegraph in remarks published today.
"There is the time that Israel will offer us before reacting, because Israel will react as soon as they know clearly that there is a threat," Kouchner said (Reza Derakhshi, Reuters II, Oct. 26).
U.S. President Barack Obama confirmed French and Russian support for the U.N. plan in telephone conversations with the presidents of both countries, AP reported yesterday (Associated Press II/Google News, Oct. 25).
Meanwhile, four IAEA officials yesterday began inspecting a recently disclosed and still-unfinished Iranian uranium enrichment complex for evidence that the site was intended to produce nuclear-weapon material, AP reported.
The three-day probe of the Qum site by the four-person team is likely to encompass examinations of design details, employee interviews and collection of soil samples. Iran agreed to open the site to international scrutiny after acknowledging its existence late last month (see GSN, Sept. 25).
No official IAEA announcements are anticipated before the officials exit Iran.
"IAEA inspectors' visit to Fordo shows that Iran's nuclear activities are transparent and peaceful," Iranian lawmaker Hasan Ebrahimi said, according to state media (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press III/Google News, Oct. 25).
Revelation of the Qum facility's existence has prompted the United States to reconsider key intelligence conclusions about Iran's nuclear program, including its assertion that Tehran no longer intended to operate a clandestine uranium enrichment program, the Washington Post reported Saturday.
Iranian communications have indicated that the country intends to acquire only 3,000 centrifuges for the site, a number too small to produce a significant quantity of nuclear power plant fuel but large enough to produce material for three nuclear weapons in one year, said two former high-level U.S. officials who contributed to internal Iran policy deliberations.
"Qum changed a lot of people's thinking, especially about the possibility of secret military enrichment," said one of the officials.
The Qum site's hardened, underground location was intended "to safeguard our nuclear facilities and reduce the cost of an active defense system," said Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi.
"There is no Iranian document saying the facility is designed for a military program, but what else can it be good for?" said one high-level intelligence official in the Middle East who is working on Iran.
"Is there another secret facility somewhere?" the official asked. "I'd now have to say yes, almost certainly" (Joby Warrick, Washington Post, Oct. 24).
Iran is probably operating five other secret nuclear sites, arms control experts told Newsweek (Jerry Guo, Newsweek, Oct. 26).
Iran could complete a nuclear weapon in as little as 18 months, Western intelligence and diplomatic officials told Reuters.
"It's not a formal assessment or formal agreement but a rough agreement that we can all work with more or less," a Western diplomat said, describing the estimate as a "worst-case scenario" (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters III, Oct. 26).
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is against engaging the United States in bilateral discussions, one Iranian lawmaker said, according to Reuters.
"Presently, the supreme national security council and the supreme leader emphasize that our strategic policies are based on the absence of negotiations with the United States. That is why we will not have any direct negotiations with the United States," the newspaper Hambastegi quoted parliament vice speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar as saying.
Khamenei wields the final word on all Iranian political decisions (Hashem Kalantari, Reuters IV, Oct. 26).