Iran wants to make changes in deal for nuclear material
US, Russia both approved plan to move uranium
BEIRUT - Iran will seek to amend a proposed deal it reached with the United States and other major powers to ship the bulk of its nuclear material overseas, state television reported yesterday.
Iran will respond by tomorrow to a proposal to transfer most of its nuclear stockpile to Russia and France to be turned into fuel for a Tehran medical reactor, but its counteroffer will include “important adjustments,’’ said Iran’s state-controlled Al Alam, citing unnamed sources.
The Arabic-language television channel often broadcasts official news or floats trial balloons before other state-controlled networks do.
The United States, Russia, France, and the International Atomic Energy Agency last week signed off on a plan to transport the bulk of Iran’s enriched uranium to Russia and France to be further refined and shaped into fuel plates for the medical reactor, which produces isotopes for cancer diagnoses and treatment.
Although the proposed deal would not fully allay international concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, it would temporarily reduce the country’s stockpile and dampen fears that Iran could suddenly break out of treaty obligations and make a sprint toward developing a nuclear weapon. And diplomats said the deal could also lay the groundwork for broader negotiations.
But Iran watchers said they expect Iran to try to negotiate hard over the quantity and timing of the enriched uranium shipped abroad, to gain maximum advantage and ease hard-liners’ mistrust of any deal with the West.
US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters the United States is waiting to weigh in until Iran submits an official response to the proposal.
But at least one American ally expressed impatience with Iran.
“Iran is wasting time because it is now that we need to talk. One day it will be too late,’’ French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said, according to Agence-France Presse.
According to Al Alam, “Tehran will agree with the general framework of the agreement on fuel for the Tehran research nuclear reactor, but it will also stipulate important provisos,’’ which its source did not specify.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki said Iran was closely considering the deal but may want to send less than the 2,650 pounds of enriched uranium specified, or purchase the enriched uranium required for the Tehran reactor.
Al Alam’s Iran affairs editor said Iran’s worries about the plan center on the quantity it was to ship abroad and how to proceed if the West did not send the material back.
In addition to angling for a better deal, Iranian officials lack confidence in the West and the United Nations and even feel betrayed by Russia for dragging its feet in providing fuel for a nuclear power plant in Bushehr, said Mark Fowler, a former CIA Iran expert now working as an analyst at Booz Allen Hamilton in Washington.
Iran missed a Friday deadline to respond to the proposal but gained important leverage this week when Russia, which holds UN Security Council veto power, came to its defense and urged patience. “In this month alone, concrete and potentially effective solutions have been found,’’ Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Rybakov said in an interview published Monday.
