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N-fuel swap at talks

Posted on: Wed November 10, 2010

TEHRAN: Iran said categorically on Tuesday that it will not discuss the issue of nuclear fuel swap during negotiations with the six world powers expected later this month over Tehran s atomic programme.     

It also insisted that the upcoming talks may not happen if the two sides fail to agree on the agenda of the dialogue.

 Under no condition will we discuss the issue of fuel swap in our meeting with the 5+1 group, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency.     

His remark is the most categorical statement by Tehran ahead of the talks which the world powersBritain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germanyhave proposed could be held starting November 15 in Vienna.     

These talks are aimed at allaying Western concerns that Iran is masking a weapons drive under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge which Tehran denies.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mehmanparast told AFP that the fuel swap issue is separate from the overall atomic programme.     

 If the complete independence of both these issues is not respected, then it will create obstacles in follow-ups, Mehmanparast said.     

There has been no report so far of a separate meeting between Iran and three world powers, Russia, France and the United States, and the UN atomic watchdogknown as the Vienna groupto discuss the nuclear fuel swap.

On October 18, Iran s atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi had said that Tehran was ready to hold simultaneous talks with the 5+1 and the Vienna group about the fuel swap. He did not say when and where these simultaneous talks could be held.     

The idea of swapping nuclear fuel was first discussed in October 2009 and a proposal was forwarded to Iran by the Vienna group, which it rejected.      Brazil and Turkey brokered a modified agreement on the fuel exchange in May but the world powers rejected it, arguing that the deal failed to take into account additional uranium enriched since last year by Tehran.

In the past few days, the Western media has reported that Washington was preparing a set of new proposals for Iran which include a fuel swap deal.

They reports did not say however the US proposals would be discussed at the talks between the six powers and Iran.     

The French daily Le Monde said last week that Washington s offer would include transferring 2,000 kilogrammes of Tehran s low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia for producing fuel to operate Iran s Bushehr nuclear power plant which has been built by Moscow.     

The paper said the proposal also talks of transferring another 1,200 kilogrammes of Tehran s LEU to Russia and France as proposed in October 2009 to produce fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor, a facility which makes medical isotopes.     

The report further said that the United States also plans to propose shifting the 30 kilogrammes of 20 percent enriched uranium that Tehran currently has out of the country. The date, venue and agenda for the talks between Iran and the six powers concerning the atomic programme of Iran is still be decided.     

The European Union chief diplomat Catherine Ashton, who spearheads the negotiation on behalf of the world powers, proposed last month that they be held starting November 15 in Vienna.     

Iran responded saying the dialogue be held after November 10 and highlighted three conditionsthat the talks be based on engagement and cooperation , that world powers not resort to threats and pressure, and that the issue of Israel s nuclear arsenal be up for discussion.     

Israel, which has not ruled out a military strike against Iran to stop its nuclear programme, is believed to be the sole but undeclared atomic weapons power in the Middle East.     

Ashton has said that the main focus of the meeting would be the Iranian nuclear programme and issues related to it.     

Mehmanparast said that as long as there is no agreement on the agenda of the talks, there will be no negotiation, adding that Iran has no serious issue on the time and place of talks which can be easily agreed upon.     

A separate report on the website of state television said that Iran s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili proposed to Ashton in a letter on Tuesday a date and venue for the talks.     

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said Iran is ready to hold the talks with the six powers in Turkey.

Courtesy : The News