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Iran Pledges Cooperation With IAEA Inspectors if Allowed to Produce Nuclear Fuel
Iran has promised to cooperate with International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors if it is allowed to produce nuclear fuel, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 12). The offer was included in a document presented yesterday to agency members by Iranian Foreign Ministry official Ali Reza Soltanieh. Referring to the United States, the document says the agency must “prevent a certain state” from increasing the conflict “under the false pretext of the existence of WMD.” The paper expresses Tehran’s concern that such efforts would amount to “pushing for confrontation which definitely endanger regional and global security” (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Sept. 12). Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected at this week’s U.N. summit in New York, where he plans to lobby support for what his administration believes is Tehran’s right to a nuclear energy program, AFP reported today. The European Union and the United States have demanded that Iran abandon all nuclear work in exchange for trade and other incentives. Ahmadinejad might offer new proposals in an effort to break the deadlock, AFP reported. That could include relinquishing Tehran’s “right” to uranium enrichment technology. The Iranian president is also expected to propose expanding its nuclear negotiations with the EU to include members of the Nonaligned Movement such as Malaysia and South Africa, which may be more sympathetic to Tehran’s case, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse/IranMania.com, Sept. 13). Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran’s nuclear program, said several countries had already expressed interest in Iran’s proposal to join the EU talks. Aghazadeh also said Tehran wants to increase its cooperation with Russia, which is building a nuclear reactor for Iran at Bushehr. “The relations with Russia are of key importance to our state,” Aghazadeh said prior to a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press/ABCNews.com, Sept. 12).
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