|
Iran to reevaluate Russian enrichment plan
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-05 19:13
Iran said Sunday it will hold talks with Moscow on a
proposal to enrich Iranian uranium in Russia, changing tracks a day after a
senior Iranian official declared the plan dead because Tehran was referred to
the U.N. Security Council.
|
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, raises
his fists during a public welcoming ceremony as he arrived from New York
where he attended the U.N General Assembly, at the Mehrabad airport, in
Tehran, Iran, in this Sunday, Sept. 18, 2005, file photo. Iran's president
Saturday ordered an end to snap inspections of its facilities after the
U.N. nuclear watchdog voted to report Tehran to the Security Council.
[AP]
|
"The situation has changed. Still, we will attend talks with Russia on
February 16," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said at a press
conference.
His comments came a day after Javad Vaeidi, deputy head of the powerful
National Security Council, said there was there was "no adequate reason to
pursue the Russian plan."
Vaedi spoke after the International Atomic Energy Agency voted to report Iran
to the U.N. Security Council over fears it wants to produce nuclear arms. Iran
responded by saying it would restart full-scale work on uranium enrichment and
order an end to intrusive IAEA inspections of its facilities.
It was not clear if the change of course represented a major shift in Iran's
strategy in the crisis over its nuclear activities. Asefi said "the door for
negotiations is still open" over Iran's nuclear program.
"We don't fear the Security Council. It's not the end of the world," he
added.
Russia had proposed that Iran shift its plan for large-scale enrichment of
uranium to Russian territory to allay world suspicions that Iran might use the
process to develop a nuclear bomb.
Uranium enriched to a low degree is used as fuel for nuclear reactors. But
highly enriched uranium is suitable for making atomic bombs.
"The proposal has to conform itself with the new circumstances," Asefi said.
"If the Russian proposal makes itself compatible with the new conditions, it can
be negotiated."
Iran has said the Russian proposal has ambiguities that need to be clarified
in talks. Iranian officials have also said Tehran would reject the proposal if
it sought to prevent Iran from enriching uranium inside the country. They insist
it must only be a complementary measure to Iran's nuclear program.
Earlier Sunday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brushed off the IAEA
referral.
"Issue as many resolutions like this as you want and make yourself happy. You
can't prevent the progress of the Iranian nation," he said in comments carried
by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
"In the name of the IAEA they want to visit all our nuclear facilities and
learn our defense capabilities, but we won't allow them to do this," he added.
In the past, Iran had allowed snap inspections of its facilities, including
military sites.
But parliament passed a law last year requiring the government to block
intrusive inspections of Iran's facilities if the country were brought before
the Security Council. It also required the government to resume all suspended
nuclear activities, chief among them, uranium enrichment.
Asefi reiterated that Iran would cooperate with the IAEA within the framework
of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Safeguard Agreement.
"We chose our way wisely. We have solutions for all situations that may
develop. Referring Iran to the Security Council will definitely harm the other
party more than Iran," Asefi said.
Twenty-seven of 35 member nations on the IAEA board voted for Iran's
referral, reflecting more than two years of intense lobbying by the United
States and its allies to enlist broad backing for such a move. Cuba, Venezuela
and Syria voted against, and five members abstained.
After years of opposition, Russia and China backed the referral last week,
bringing support from other nations who had been waiting for their lead.
But in return, Moscow and Beijing demanded that the Americans — and France
and Britain, the two other veto-wielding Security Council members — agree to let
the Iran issue rest until at least March, when the IAEA board meets again to
review the agency's investigation of Iran's nuclear program and its compliance
with board demands that it renounce uranium enrichment.
|
