Iran today indicated it would not send its uranium abroad for further enrichment under a U.N. proposal, AFP reported (see GSN, Nov. 17).
(Nov. 18) -
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, shown yesterday, today rejected a proposal to send his nation's uranium to other countries for further refinement (Atta Kenare/Getty Images).
The proposal, put forward last month by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, was aimed at eliminating immediate concerns that the nation could produce enough material for a nuclear weapon from its existing low-enriched uranium stockpile. Diplomats hoped that such a compromise on uranium enrichment would allow for additional time for wider negotiations on the nuclear standoff (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Nov. 18).
The plan called for the rapid transfer of 2,600 pounds of Iran's uranium to Russia, according to the New York Times (Jack Healy, New York Times, Nov. 18).
"We reviewed it ... from an economic and technical aspect. We will definitely not send out our 3.5 percent enriched uranium," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said. "It means that we will (instead) consider swapping the (nuclear) fuel simultaneously in Iran."
"Iranian experts are reviewing the issue of swap to see how much fuel can be transferred," according to Mottaki. "The amount they mentioned for the swap is not acceptable ... and our experts are still studying it" (Agence France-Presse I)
Still, it remained uncertain whether Mottaki's remarks reflected Tehran's official stance, the Times reported (Healy, New York Times).
As of yesterday, Washington was still waiting for an official response to the U.N. plan.
"Frustration is mounting," Reuters quoted U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly as saying.
"We're not prepared to actually pronounce that they have rejected the deal because they haven't formally rejected the deal yet," he said. "We always hesitate to give a formal deadline -- but I would just say that time is very short" (Andrew Quinn, Reuters, Nov. 17).
"We hope that they will provide a formal response, but the failure to provide a response to this and its overall noncompliance, as laid out in the IAEA agreement, frankly, doesn't give us a whole lot of confidence that they will respond formally," AFP quoted Kelly as saying (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Nov. 18).
Western powers are likely to pursue new international sanctions against the Middle Eastern nation should it fail to respond to the offer, one analyst told the Los Angeles Times.
"[U.S. President Barack Obama] extended sanctions on Iran for one year. The Europeans are discussing the same issue. There’s a direct discussion between France and Britain over this issue. They go to the U.N. and get a new resolution," said Mahjoob Zweiri, an Iran expert at the University of Jordan's Center for Strategic Studies.
An IAEA report released Monday on Iran's nuclear program appears geared toward backing new U.N. Security Council action against the country, Zweiri said.
"The IAEA is in a tricky position. They want to keep their work focused on technical issues. But they think it’s also a political issue. They want to please Western powers but keep the door open to Iran," he said.
Still, Zweiri was unsure whether Iran has "the political will" to complete a nuclear weapon.
"[The Iranians] don’t want to lose everything. As soon as they announce or the international community becomes aware that they have the political will (to build weapons), they could lose it all immediately in a military attack" (Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 17).
Meanwhile, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt urged Russia to "support the American position" against Iran's nuclear work. The United States and some European governments have vigorously questioned Iran's insistence that its nuclear program is not aimed at weapons development, but Russia and China have typically resisted some calls by Western powers for punitive action against the country.
"The rights are in having access to civilian energy while obligations are in not developing nuclear production in an ambition to possess nuclear weapons in the world which is committed to the ideas of nonproliferation," Reinfeldt told ITAR-Tass. "In this respect, Russia could play a greater role in exerting influence on Iran" (ITAR-Tass, Nov. 18).
China's reliance on Iranian oil exports makes it less likely that Beijing would fall behind a new Western sanctions push, Time magazine reported.
"Beijing is interested in domestic stability first, and stability on their frontier after that. The notion that they are ready and willing to stand up and run the world with the U.S. now is very premature," said one high-level Asian diplomat.
Another expert suggested China could be more flexible.
"(China's]) first instinct will be to look to see what the Russians do," said Willem van Kemenade, an expert on U.S.-Chinese relations with the Netherlands Institute for Security Studies (Bill Powell, Time, Nov. 18).
Meanwhile, Iran yesterday said it would boost its petroleum output by more than 30 percent, AFP reported.
"This symbolic move ... is to show that they (Western powers) cannot use this (petrol) as a leverage against the Islamic republic," Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi.
U.S. lawmakers are considering legislation aimed at curbing Iranian imports of gasoline and other refined oil products.
Tehran has "no problem with buying and the supply of petrol ... we have now even more suppliers who have come forward to sell petrol to us," Mirkazemi added (Agence France-Presse III/Zawya, Nov. 17).