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ElBaradei. Waiting for Tehran
Photo: AFP

World awaits Iran's decision on uranium proposal

Russian FM Lavrov says his country has agreed to proposals by UN nuclear watchdog to help reduce Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium. Diplomat says US, France to also say 'yes' to deal

The United States and its allies hoped to secure Iran's approval Friday for a proposed deal that would ship most of the country's uranium abroad for enrichment and ease Western fears about Iran's potential to make a nuclear weapon.

 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that his country had agreed to proposals by the UN nuclear watchdog to help reduce Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium.

 

"We agree with these proposals and we are counting on not only Iran, but all the other participants of the negotiations, to confirm their readiness to implement the proposed scheme," Lavrov told reporters.

 

A diplomat told AFP that the US and France would also approve proposals from the International Atomic Energy Agency that aim to break the deadlock on the Iranian nuclear program.

 

"The US and French ambassadors to the IAEA are currently on their way to (agency chief) Mohamed ElBaradei to present their countries' positive responses," the diplomat said.

 

The UN nuclear watchdog on Wednesday presented a draft deal to Iran and three world powers for approval within two days to reduce Tehran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium, seen by the West as a nuclear weapons risk.

 

Approval of the draft agreement would be a key victory for President Barack Obama, who has stepped up diplomatic engagement with Iran since he took office in January and faulted the Bush administration for refusing to talk to US adversaries.

 

Iran has so far declined to say if it would endorse the plan, which Western diplomats said would require Tehran to send 1.2 tons of its known 1.5-tonne reserve of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia and France by the end of the year.

 

The material would be converted into fuel for a nuclear medicine facility in Tehran.

 

Iran's deputy parliament speaker, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, dismissed the plan Thursday, the first public reaction in Tehran to the proposal.

 

Iran's parliament will not vote on the draft plan, and Bahonar does not speak for the government, which is to decide the matter. But it's unclear if his comments reflect high-level resistance to the deal or the opinions of some influential politicians in Iran.

 

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Thursday that while some in Iran may disagree with the proposal, the US government was waiting to hear the government's "authoritative answer" Friday.

 

Failure to endorse the deal could prompt the US to push for harsher international sanctions against Iran. The UN Security Council has already passed three sets of sanctions against Iran for failing to suspend uranium enrichment, but the US faces a serious challenge in convincing Russia and China to go even further because of their close ties to Tehran.

 

The Associated Press, Reuters and AFP contributed to this report

 


פרסום ראשון: 10.23.09, 12:58
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