Iran
sticks to tough line for crunch nuclear talks in Moscow
AFP/File/Behrouz Mehri
Iranian vice president Gholam Reza Aghazadeh (L) and Russia's
atomic energy head Sergei Kiriyenko give a joint press conference
at the Bushehr nuclear power plant, in southern Iran, 27 February
2006. Iran and Russia will resume 11th-hour talks in Moscow on
Tuesday to try to resolve worldwide angst over the Islamic republic's
nuclear program, feared by the United States to be a covert grab
for an atomic bomb, a senior Russian official said.
By
Dario Thuburn
AFP
MOSCOW
Petroleumworld.com
02 28 06
Iran insisted Tuesday on its right to nuclear technology ahead
of 11th-hour talks in Moscow aimed at heading off fears it is
seeking atomic weapons, sticking to its tough line despite huge
international pressure.
As an Iranian delegation prepared to fly to Moscow, a top Iranian
official said that Russia's proposed compromise would only be
acceptable if Tehran was allowed to continue sensitive nuclear
fuel cycle "research."
It exposed significant differences between the positions of Moscow
-- which says Iran must resume a moratorium on such work -- and
Tehran which says that it has the right like anyone else to enrich
uranium for peaceful purposes.
The talks in Moscow come ahead of a crunch March 6 meeting of
the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tehran's
nuclear programme, with the West pushing for UN Security Council
action.
IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei said in a report Monday to the agency's
board of governors that he could not be sure what Iran's nuclear
motives were as it had failed to answer crucial questions.
His report also said Iran planned to set up 3,000 centrifuges
for uranium enrichment, which can be the fuel for reactors but
also the core material for nuclear weapons.
"Although the agency has not seen any diversion of nuclear
material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices,
the agency is not at this point in time in a position to conclude
that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in
Iran," it said.
The Iranian delegation will be led by Ali Larijani, head of Iran's
Supreme National Security Council, the Russian foreign ministry
said.
Under Moscow's compromise, Russia would enrich uranium on Iran's
behalf -- giving it the fuel for nuclear power but not the technology
for a bomb.
It is seen as a final effort to avert possible international sanctions
on Tehran ahead of the IAEA meeting.
But Hossein Entezami, spokesman for the Supreme National Security
Council, said the offer "must include a guarantee that nuclear
fuel will be supplied to Iran, (allows) research activities to
continue and recognises Iran's right to conduct industrial-scale
research."
That is at odds with what Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
was saying Monday.
"We are convinced that, among other components of this effort,
a moratorium on enrichment of uranium in Iran is required,"
he told reporters then.
Western powers suspect Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon
under the cover of a civilian atomic energy programme. Iran insists
it is only aiming to generate electricity.
The talks in Moscow follow negotiations between Russia and Iran
here last week and a weekend visit to Iran by the head of Russia's
nuclear energy agency Rosatom, Sergei Kiriyenko.
During the visit, Iran said it had agreed "in principle"
to Russia's offer but Russian officials sounded a cautious note,
saying many issues were still outstanding.
On a visit to Japan, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki
said the IAEA report found no evidence to back Western claims
of a weapons programme.
"I think 50 percent of the case is quite clear: There is
no evidence, no reports, no documents and no inspections shows
that any diversion is there in our peaceful activities of nuclear"
energy, he said.
"And the next 50 percent is to assure them that the activities...
(will not move) in the future to non-peaceful purposes. That is
our promise, that is our commitment. And we are against nuclear
weapons," Mottaki said.
Meanwhile China, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council,
said it was willing to play "a constructive role" in
the Russian proposal. "We would like to see (Iran-Russia)
cooperation and we would like to play a constructive role,"
foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular briefing.
The United States, hwoever, reacted warily to the idea of a deal
between Russia and Iran. "We will see. Given their history,
you can understand why we remain sceptical," White House
spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.
"The regime has shown they cannot be trusted.
AFP
02 28 06
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© 2006 AFP. All rights reserved
