Iran warms to uranium shipment plan
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he has 'no problem' with plan to ship uranium abroad for enrichment
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Wednesday, 03, Feb 2010 05:14
By Matthew Champion.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has for the first time indicated willingness to agree to an international plan to ship uranium abroad for enrichment.
Mr Ahmadinejad told Iranian TV he had "no problem" in agreeing to a longstanding offer from the permanent members of the United Nations security council and Germany.
Under the terms of the plan, first presented last October and to be implemented by the UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran would send out 70 per cent of its low-enriched uranium to be processed abroad.
The uranium would then be returned around a year later as refined fuel rods, which can be used to power reactors but not for creating weapons-grade material.
President Ahmadinejad told Iranian broadcaster IRIB: "Some people made a fuss about it. There is no problem. We will seal a contract and we will give you 3.5 per cent uranium to enrich it to 20 per cent levels in four or five months and return to us.
"If they don't return it, what will happen? We will be proven right, and then it will be proven that the agency [International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA] was not reliable and they will be discredited. Then we will be free to rely on ourselves for our activities."
The US, Britain, France and Germany are in favour of a new round of sanctions against Iran over its heavily-disputed nuclear programme, which Tehran insists is for entirely peaceable purposes.
US state department official PJ Crowley said it was uncertain whether President Ahmadinejad's TV interview represented a "serious offer".
"If Iran is serious, they can inform the IAEA that they are ready to accept the deal that's on the table," he said.
Separately, Iran test-fired its latest missile on Wednesday, with state TV reporting the Kavoshgar (Explorer) rocket had been successfully launched carrying a satellite, scientific instruments and live organisms (a rat, two turtles and worms).
Iran joined a small list of countries with space technology in early 2008. The west has longstanding concerns that the missile launches are geared towards constructing a long-range nuclear weapon.