By Ladane Nasseri
(Adds details of dispute starting in third paragraph, updates with proposed locations for talks in final.)
Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) — Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said talks with the world powers on Iran’s uranium enrichment should include acceptance of a May proposal brokered by Brazil and Turkey for the supply of nuclear-reactor fuel.
If France, Russia, the U.S. and the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency are “prepared to enter negotiations based on this framework, a time and location for talks will be agreed on,” Mottaki said today, according to the state-run Press TV news channel.
The U.S. said on Oct. 28 that will offer a “revised” proposal for Iran to exchange its low-enriched uranium for fuel to power a Tehran reactor that produces medical isotopes. The offer hinges on Iran agreeing to direct talks over its nuclear program, State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said. The New York Times reported that the terms of the U.S. proposal would be stricter than those of a 2009 UN plan rejected by Iran.
Uranium enrichment is the key issue in the international dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, with Iran maintaining the right to produce the material and the U.S. leading efforts to force Iran to abandon the work. Enriched uranium can fuel a reactor and at higher concentrations form the core of a bomb. Iran denies claims by the U.S. and many of its allies that the nuclear program may be providing cover for the development of weapons.
International Sanctions
The European Union proposed a round of nuclear negotiations with Iran in Vienna for mid-November. The U.S., U.K., Russia, China, France — the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — and Germany would also participate. The Security Council approved a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program in June, followed by a tightening of U.S. and EU measures in response to the Iranian nuclear program.
Iran, which is under increasing pressure from the international economic sanctions, has agreed to resume talks over its disputed uranium enrichment activities after Nov. 10. Mottaki told reporters today in Tbilisi, Georgia, that Iran is ready to hold the negotiations in Istanbul or Geneva. The parties haven’t yet reached an agreement on the content of the talks, he said.
The proposal brokered by Turkey and Brazil, in which Iran would swap some of its enriched uranium for fuel in a form usable only in the Tehran reactor, was rejected by Western nations because it allowed the country to continue producing enriched uranium. Iran says it needs the material as part of its development of nuclear energy.
The plan for the exchange followed an October 2009 proposal from the UN powers for Iran to send most of its stock of enriched uranium to Russia to be processed to a higher level of purity and then to France for conversion into fuel for the Tehran plant, which is running low on supplies.
–With assistance from Helena Bedwell in Tbilisi. Editors: Heather Langan, Karl Maier
To contact the reporter on this story: Ladane Nasseri in Tehran at lnasseri@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Maher Chmaytelli at mchmaytelli@bloomberg.net.