UN pressures Iran with nuclear compromise plan

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Mohamed el-Baradei, head of the U.N. watchdog group International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), may go directly to Tehran some time this week with a compromise plan to reduce the possibility that Iran may make use of its uranium enrichment program to produce nuclear arms.

Under a compromise plan negotiated last week between the EU-3 (consisting of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom) and the United States, a loose agreement was reached where the final stages of nuclear enrichment within Iran, uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas, would be transferred to Russia.

Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who heads the nuclear program in Iran, rejected the proposal on Saturday, insisting that the uranium enrichment program must be carried out in Iran. The rejection came after a meeting with Russian foreign minister of affairs Igor Ivanov. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza Assefi, denied the meetings were to develop a nuclear program partnership with Russia that specifically relates to the new IAEA proposal.

The IAEA board will meet on November 24, when they may decide to refer Iran for possible economic sanctions before the U.N. Security Council. The U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, has distanced the United States from the short deadline for Iran to conform to the new plan. A state department spokesman, Adam Ereli said on Thursday that, "The secretary does not conduct diplomacy by deadline."

Enriched uranium can be used to generate energy or to make nuclear weapons, a capability Tehran claims is their right to pursue for the peaceful purposes of generating electricity.

Previous related news

"Iran determined to continue with nuclear program" — Wikinews, September 18, 2005
"U.N. to begin forming response to Iranian nuclear program" — Wikinews, August 9, 2005

Sources

UPI. "U.S., allies, have new Iran nuclear offer" — ScienceDaily, November 10, 2005
"U.S. denies E.U.-U.S. proposal on Iran nuclear issue" — Monsters and Critics, November 10, 2005
"US, EU tentatively back Russian atom plan for Iran" — Reuters, November 10, 2005
"Diplomats Report US, European Offer on Iran Nuclear Standoff" — Voice of America, November 10, 2005
AP. "IAEA Chief to Press Iran on Compromise" — CBS News, November 13, 2005
"Iran says no new nuclear proposal mentioned in talks with Russia" — Monsters and Critics, November 13, 2005
"Will Russia join the march to refer Iran to the UNSC?" — Aljazeera, November 13, 2005
"Iran rejects U.S. claim on atomic weapons work" — Reuters, November 13, 2005

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