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Title: Russia denies Iran atom offer
Source:
Reuters
URL Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10371612
Published: Mar 8, 2006
Author: Mark Heinrich and Parisa Hafezi
Post Date: 2006-03-08 07:49:22 by A K A Stone
Keywords: Russia, denies, offer
Views: 465
Comments: 1
VIENNA - Russia today backed away from what EU diplomats said was a proposal to let Iran do some atomic research if it agreed to refrain from enriching uranium on an industrial scale for 7-9 years. Russia abandoned the informal proposal, aimed at finding a compromise to the crisis over Iran's nuclear programme, after Western rejection of the idea. The United States and the European Union want Iran to shelve all work to enrich uranium because of suspicions that Tehran is secretly trying to make nuclear weapons. US Vice President Dick Cheney said today that Iran would be stopped from getting atomic bombs and faced "meaningful consequences" if it persists in defying calls to stop nuclear work which could lead to weapons. In defying calls to halt all enrichment-related work, Iran seems to be counting on divisions in the UN Security Council over whether to resort to sanctions mooted by the United States. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied after talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that he had made a new proposal to defuse a crisis over Iran's nuclear aspirations that the Security Council may soon tackle. "There is no compromise new proposal," Lavrov said at a news conference with Rice, who added: "The Russians did not tell us of any new proposal..." EU diplomats said Russian officials informally raised the idea of a 7-9 year moratorium during consultations over the past week. US, British, French and German rejection came swiftly when word of the offer leaked today. "The Russians explored this idea with us," said a diplomat, who asked not to be identified, from one of the three EU states - Germany, France and Britain - working on the Iran issue, the so-called EU3. The diplomat said when Lavrov "realised the EU3 and US would not accept its elements, he decided to deny it to save face". In Moscow, a senior Kremlin aide said Russia shared the West's goal of keeping bomb-grade nuclear technology out of Iran but acknowledged it might be considering different approaches. "There are divergences ... but the goal is a single one - that Iran should be a predictable partner and there is no threat of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," Sergei Prikhodko told RIA Novosti news agency. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), alluded to Moscow's reported formula when he held out hope yesterday for a deal to defuse the crisis without UN Security Council intervention against Iran. A council debate on Iran looms after an IAEA board meeting now in progress. Iran says its nuclear programme aims solely at generating electricity. But it concealed atomic research from the IAEA for 18 years and its calls for Israel's destruction alarm the West. US officials said any concession to let Iran feed uranium gas into a small cascade of centrifuges would inevitably give Tehran the know-how to make nuclear warheads. Iran reacted coolly to reports of the Russian offer as well, with one diplomat saying Tehran could accept a two-year moratorium on industrial atomic fuel production, but not longer, in exchange for assurances it could do centrifuge research. He said Iran's idea of research entailed running nearly 3,000 enrichment centrifuges, which the West would deem industrial-scale and could yield enough highly enriched uranium for one bomb in a year if operating at full capacity. "Any moratorium of more than two years and any suspension of nuclear research activities (as the West demands) will make it difficult to reach a deal. The face-saving solution is to enrich uranium on a limited scale ... during the two years," he said. While Moscow and Beijing also do not want Iran to acquire atom bomb technology, they want to protect big trade stakes with Tehran and could use their council vetoes to block sanctions.
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#1. To: A K A Stone (#0)
Formatting is our friend. Make sure you have the "Make blank lines new paragraphs" box checked before you hit "Post" (the box will uncheck itself if you preview before posting). I wish America could pull out of defense agreements with other countries as easily as Russia does. Perhaps better still would to have not made any such agreements to begin with and just declare your neutrality. Perhaps these sort of agreements are made not for the named country but to send some kind of political message to one or both of the remaining superstates (USA and China).
I'm Drunk Fratman!
Bring Back Cyclamates!
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