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Iran to Resume Fuel Cycle Work Regardless of Details of Pending EU Proposal, Khatami Says
Iran plans to resume some sensitive nuclear work regardless of what is contained in a European Union proposal expected to be revealed early next month, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said today (see GSN, July 26). “Whether Europeans mention our right to resume activities at the uranium conversion facility at Isfahan or not, we will definitely resume them regardless,” Khatami said, according to Reuters. “Our deadline for suspending nuclear work was the EU proposal, we will wait until the first days of August but will restart activities right afterwards,” he said. Tehran does not, however, plan to resume development of uranium enrichment technology in the near future, said Atomic Energy Organization head Gholamreza Aghazadeh. “Enrichment is not currently on the agenda. What we are talking about is Isfahan and not Natanz,” he said. However, “we will certainly start uranium enrichment one day as well,” he added (Reuters/Yahoo!News, July 27). Tehran has called on Brussels in its proposal to permit some sensitive nuclear work to go forward, threatening otherwise to walk out on talks, Agence France-Presse reported. “One of our minimum (demands) is that the suspension is partially lifted,” negotiator Ali Agha Mohammadi quoted a letter from chief negotiator Hassan Rohani to the European Union last week as saying (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 26). The EU proposal is expected to offer trade incentives in exchange for Iranian concessions on its nuclear program, and is likely to be presented soon after President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad takes office on Aug. 3, AFP reported. Negotiations will not resume until several weeks after the proposal is presented, said an EU official (Agence France-Presse/Interactive Investor, July 26).
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