Iran said on Tuesday a possible joint venture with Russia would ease world mistrust about its nuclear aims mirrored by a UN watchdog report saying Tehran is accelerating a fuel programme with potential to make atom bombs.
The report by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei came out a week before a March 6 IAEA board meeting likely to pave the way to UN Security Council debate on possible action, including sanctions, against Iran.
It said Iran was accelerating a nuclear fuel development drive by expanding tests on centrifuge machines and planning to start installing 3,000 in its subterranean Natanz plant later in 2006 in a push toward "industrial-scale" enrichment of uranium.
The report also detailed a myriad of new instances of Iran parrying IAEA investigations into alleged military involvement in atomic research by giving vague or partial responses, denying interview requests and refusing to turn over documentation.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki reiterated that Tehran, which insists its nuclear work aims only to generate electricity, would not renounce it but said talks with Russia on jointly purifying uranium would reduce international doubts.
"We would like to enjoy our rights like Japan to have nuclear technology, of course for peaceful purposes," he said in Tokyo after meeting Japanese Trade Minister Toshihiro Nikai.
"The Russian proposal would be a bridge between Iran's right to peaceful use of nuclear energy and (gaining) international trust," a Japanese official quoted Mottaki as telling Nikai.
On Sunday, Iran said it had reached a "basic" agreement with Russia on a joint venture to enrich uranium but it was unclear if that meant Iran would not pursue enrichment technology at home, the key condition of Russia and the West.
Mottaki told Nikai that Iran and Russia were still discussing where to carry out the joint enrichment, according to the Japanese official, who attended the meeting.
A third round of talks was slated for Wednesday in Moscow, this time with the Islamic Republic's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani on hand, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"The continuation of talks shows there is progress," Iranian National Security Council spokesman Hossein Entezami said.
WEST DOUBTS IRANIAN GOOD FAITH IN TALKS:
Western powers, who persuaded the IAEA board to vote on February 4 to report Iran to the Security Council, welcome Russia's initiative but believe Iran is not serious about it and only seeks to string out dialogue to stall Security Council action while racing ahead with enrichment to make it a fait accompli.
Gregory Schulte, US ambassador to the IAEA, said the IAEA's finding that Iran was swinging into wholesale development of Natanz, defying IAEA calls on it to desist to regain trust, showed why Tehran was now in the Security Council's sights.
He noted the IAEA found Iran had stockpiled 85 metric tonnes of uranium "UF6" gas, the feedstock for enriched fuel produced in spinning centrifuges, at its Isfahan uranium-conversion plant and would make more at least through April 2006.
"This is not a peaceful programme. This is not innocent 'research and development'," Schulte said in a statement, evoking Western concerns stoked by Iranian calls for Israel's destruction and Tehran's alleged support for Islamic militants.
Eighty-five tonnes of UF6 is enough for a dozen atomic bombs once Iran perfects industrial-scale enrichment technology with thousands of cascades operating in centrifuges around the clock, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said recently.
David Albright, an ex-IAEA sleuth and head of the Institute for Science and International Security, said in a January report that 1,500 centrifuges could yield enough highly enriched uranium (HEU) for about one bomb per year.
Once Iran has installed its ultimate target of 50,000 centrifuges at Natanz that it says would fuel its first atomic reactor at Bushehr, Tehran would be able to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for 25-30 warheads annually, he said.
How long it would take for Iran to reach the bomb "breakout" threshold would depend on when it resolves longstanding technical glitches in cranking up cascades of centrifuges - Western scientists have reckoned anywhere from two to ten years.
Asked about ElBaradei's report, Entezami said it had positive aspects in attesting to Iranian permission for IAEA inspectors to visit military installations, where tests turned up no particles of bomb-grade uranium.
"One of the negative points is that (ElBaradei) announces he cannot verify the peaceful nature of our nuclear work" after three years of intensive probes, he told IRNA news agency.
Comments
Comments are closed.