|
Iran to deliver response on uranium deal Thursday
2009-10-28
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran will deliver on Thursday its much-awaited response to a UN-brokered nuclear deal under which it would export low-enriched uranium for conversion into fuel for a medical research reactor, the Mehr news agency said. The report quoted an unnamed informed source as saying Tehran's "final response" would propose some modifications in the draft of the Western-backed plan but accepts the overall framework. Meanwhile, a top aide of US President Barack Obama indicated that Washington would push for new sanctions against Tehran if it faltered on its commitments regarding its nuclear programme. But a top Russian official, whose country has veto power in the UN Security Council, said this was "unlikely" in the near future. Mehr said Tehran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, will meet IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei in the Austrian capital on Thursday and "give Iran's response to the Vienna talks." The IAEA brokered the deal during Vienna talks earlier this month. After arriving in Vienna on Wednesday, Soltanieh said Iran "will continue with a positive view after it held the first round of Vienna talks in October. "The negotiations must take into account the Islamic republic's economic and technical views on how to provide fuel for the research reactor," he was quoted by Iran's state news agency IRNA as saying. An influential Iranian lawmaker said the Supreme National Security Council -- the top national security decision-making body -- would put the finishing touches to Tehran's official response on Wednesday. "The council will decide on Wednesday its position about the response to the agency's proposal on supply of fuel to Tehran reactor," Alaeddin Borujerdi told the ISNA news agency. Borujerdi, chairman of parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, advocates Iran's low-enriched uranium (LEU) being sent abroad gradually and not all in one shot. Iranian state media had said on Tuesday that Tehran wanted "very important changes" in the deal arranged. France says the proposal calls for Tehran to export to Russia more than 1,200 kilos (2,640 pounds) of its 3.5 percent LEU for refining up to 20 percent purity to fuel the Tehran reactor that makes medical isotopes. World powers back this, as they fear Iran intends to enrich its LEU to even higher levels for use in atomic weapons. Another plus from their perspective is that the Tehran facility is closely monitored by the IAEA. Tehran says its enrichment drive -- the most controversial aspect of its nuclear project -- is peaceful. Enriched uranium can be used to power nuclear reactors as well as to make the fissile core of an atom bomb. Iran response to the deal was delayed from Friday over conflicting views from senior officials who are largely of the opinion that Tehran must transport its LEU in batches rather than all at once. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who has been the West's negotiator with Tehran, spoke to chief Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili on Wednesday, IRNA reported. They agreed to continue talks over Tehran's broad package of proposals on nuclear issues, delivered to world powers in September, IRNA said, without saying whether they had touched on the LEU export deal. Since 2006, Solana has been negotiating on behalf of world powers to try to persuade Iran to enter talks on suspending enrichment in exchange for political and economic benefits. Iran is already under three sets of UN sanctions for enriching uranium. The United States is prepared to respond if Iran does not abide by its commitments over the controversial nuclear programme, a top aide to Obama said. "Nothing is off the table," National Security Adviser James Jones said on Tuesday, raising the possibility that Washington could go for new sanctions if current diplomatic efforts fail. And a key House of Representatives committee approved a bill that would apply tough sanctions on Iran's main suppliers of refined oil products, including British, French, Swiss and Indian firms. The measure would empower Obama to effectively block from doing business in the United States firms that supply Iran with refined petroleum products, or the ability to import or produce them at home. But Sergei Prikhodko, a top aide to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, said further sanctions are "unlikely in the near future." Moscow has been indicating in recent weeks it might support Washington on sanctions against Tehran if diplomatic efforts failed.
| 
