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Iran: Officials Disagree Over Russian Conditions for Nuclear Aid Contradicting recent statements from Western officials, senior Russian officials denied yesterday that they would condition Russian nuclear aid to Iran on Tehran’s acceptance of more intrusive international monitoring, according to reports (see GSN, June 4). The confusion occurred at the same time the International Atomic Energy Agency announced that its inspectors would begin a one-week visit to Iran Saturday to follow up on their February visit (see GSN, Feb. 24). This new inspection comes just days before IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei is scheduled to brief the agency’s board of governors on his assessment of Iran’s nuclear activities. The briefing is scheduled for June 16, but board members are due to receive advance copies next week (Yuri Kozlov, ITAR-Tass, June 5). Yesterday, Russian officials said they planned to supply Tehran with uranium fuel for a nuclear power plant currently under construction, even if Iran does not sign the Additional Protocol to its IAEA safeguards agreement. The protocol would allow the IAEA to conduct more intrusive inspections and monitoring activity in Iran. The Russian remarks contradicted statements remarks made yesterday by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Speaking before Parliament following the Group of Eight summit, Blair said Russian President Vladimir Putin had “made it clear” that until Iran signed the protocol, “Russia would suspend its exports of nuclear fuel to Iran” (see GSN, June 3; Michael Wines, New York Times, June 5). Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev, however, said yesterday, “There is no link” (Agence France-Presse, June 5). He said Russia would begin supplying nuclear fuel to Iran as soon as Tehran signed an agreement promising to return the spent fuel to Russia. “We are at a technical stage of issuing an additional agreement with Iran on the return of supplied nuclear fuel after it has been used for a required period of time,” he said. “After that, there will be no obstacles to supplies of fresh nuclear fuel to Iran,” Rumyantsev added. Iran is urging Russia to accelerate the construction of the Bushehr nuclear reactor, Rumyantsev said yesterday. A storage site for nuclear fuel, complete with “many layers of physical protection,” has been completed and fuel deliveries could begin as soon as February, he said (Wines, New York Times). Future construction efforts at the Bushehr plant, however, could hinge on Iran’s acceptance of the Additional Protocol, according to Putin’s top economic advisor Andrei Illarionov. Iran’s signature of the Additional Protocol would be “the best way to remove all questions and suspicions,” Illarionov said. “When the IAEA concludes that Iran does not have any military nuclear program, Russia will be able to restore normal times with this country,” he added (Peter Baker, Washington Post, June 5). U.S. Attack on Iran Would Be “Suicide,” Ayatollah Says Meanwhile, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday that a U.S. attack on Iran would be “suicide” (see GSN, June 3). “The American threats are not new. They have threatened us since the beginning of the Islamic revolution,” Khamenei said. “They know that militarily attacking Iran and the Iranian nation would mean suicide for the aggressor,” he said (Business Recorder, June 5).
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