Iran today called for the formation of an International Atomic Energy Agency panel to assess the terms of a U.N. proposal for enriching the Middle Eastern state's uranium in other countries, Reuters reported (see GSN, Oct. 30; Razak Ahmad, Reuters I, Nov. 1).
(Nov. 2) -
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, shown today, called for an International Atomic Energy Agency panel to review a proposal for enriching Iranian uranium (Saeed Khan/Getty Images).
The enrichment plan, put forward last month by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, was aimed at eliminating immediate concerns that Iran could produce enough material for a nuclear weapon using its existing stockpile of low-enriched uranium. France, Russia and the United States indicated their support for the proposal, but Tehran appeared to balk last week at the plan's call for the rapid transfer of much of the country's uranium.
"We have considered this proposal, we have some technical and economic considerations on that. Two days ago we passed our views and observations to the IAEA, so it is very much possible to establish a technical commission to review and reconsider all these issues," Agence France-Presse quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as saying today.
Mottaki did not elaborate on the objectives of the proposed panel, but he reaffirmed his nation's intention to "continue enrichment" of uranium. Washington and its allies suspect that Iran's uranium enrichment program is aimed at nuclear-weapon development, but Tehran has insisted the effort is strictly peaceful in nature (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Nov. 2).
The foreign minister added that Tehran would still prefer to purchase additional uranium from abroad, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
"Our first request is to purchase nuclear fuel for Tehran reactor but if we do not reach a conclusion on the issue, fuel production with the 20 percent enriched uranium inside Iran will be considered," he said, according to Iranian state media.
The more highly enriched uranium would fuel a medical research reactor in Tehran; weapon-grade uranium has a purity of around 90 percent (Xinhua News Agency/China View, Nov. 2).
Iran wants to hold further talks on the uranium proposal, Iranian Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency Ali Asghar Soltanieh told Reuters today.
"We are ready for the next round of technical discussions in Vienna at the IAEA headquarters," he said in a telephone remark, adding that the Vienna-based organization could decide when to schedule the talks (Sylvia Westall, Reuters II, Nov. 2).
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested Saturday that Israel was displeased with Iran's diplomatic actions, AFP reported.
"We hope the negotiations continue and evil powers don't indulge in mischief because the Zionist regime and other domineering powers are unhappy with the talks," state media quoted him as saying.
On Friday, though, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to ElBaradei's uranium transfer proposal as "a positive first step" (Aresu Eqbali, Agence France-Presse II, Oct. 31).
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday pressed Iran to comply with international nuclear demands, according to AFP.
"Our view is that we are willing to work toward creative outcomes like shipping out the low-enriched uranium to be reprocessed outside of Iran but we're not going to wait forever," she said. "Patience does have finally its limits and it is time for Iran to fulfill its obligations and responsibilities to the international community and accepting this deal would be a good beginning" (Agence France-Presse III/Yahoo!News, Oct. 31).
Clinton's comments were echoed by the foreign ministers of Russia and the United Kingdom, who today called on Iran to formally answer the U.N. proposal, Xinhua reported (Xinhua News Agency II/China View, Nov. 2). The French Foreign Ministry made a similar demand in a statement Friday, according to RIA Novosti (RIA Novosti, Oct. 30).
Addressing the U.N. General Assembly today, ElBaradei urged Iran "to be as forthcoming as possible in responding soon to my recent proposal," Reuters reported (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters III, Nov. 2).
In Washington, the Obama administration has begun laying the groundwork for imposing new economic penalties on Iran, partly by lending private support to sanctions bills now moving through Congress, the Associated Press reported Saturday.
"We have to be prepared to act and we are not going to let this drag out forever," one administration source told AP (Matthew Lee, Associated Press, Oct. 31).
In Tehran, two lawmakers on Saturday reaffirmed their opposition to U.N. nuclear proposal, Reuters reported.
"We are completely opposed to the proposal on delivering uranium with 3.5 percent enrichment in exchange for uranium with 20 percent enrichment. There is no guarantee they would give us fuel with 20 percent enrichment in exchange for our delivered LEU," state media quoted Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, as saying.
"The demand that we should deliver all enriched nuclear material to other countries ... is completely out of the question," added Kazem Jalali, a parliament member serving as the committee's spokesman.
Still, the proposal remains "politically treacherous" within Iran, said Mark Fitzpatrick, a nonproliferation analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
"They (the leadership) find it hard to strike any deal with the West even though this is an obviously good deal for them. It's stalling but it is not just tactical stalling. There is real domestic turmoil in Iran," he said (Dahl/Jaseb, Reuters IV, Oct. 31).
Russia's ambassador to Iran yesterday challenged allegations that the proposal was aimed at swindling Tehran of its uranium stockpile, AFP reported.
"This is not to trick Iran in order to take its low-enriched uranium out of its hands," Alexander Sadovnikov said. "We believe that reaching this agreement and signing the technical contract to produce fuel for the Tehran reactor is beneficial to Iran and will help in resolving the nuclear issue."
Moscow "believes that negotiations must be approached from a calculated position without threats and scare," he added. "As Russian officials have repeatedly said, threats and sanctions will only complicate the situation and lead to a dead end" (Aresu Eqbali, Agence France-Presse IV/Google News, Nov. 1).