Iran, U.N. Nuclear Agency to Resume Talks

The International Atomic Energy Agency plans to open a third round of discussions with Iran within 10 days over the nation’s alleged nuclear-weapon design research, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, April 30).

Since last week, representatives from the U.N. nuclear watchdog have met twice with Iranian officials to discuss the matter.  The United States and other Western powers reportedly provided evidence to bolster their claims that Iran could eventually use nuclear capabilities it is now developing to produce a weapon.  Tehran insists its nuclear program is directed exclusively toward civilian energy development.

“The second series of discussions that started on Monday ended after three days and there will be a new set of discussions in the next 10 days,” said Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iranian envoy to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Soltanieh did not address an IAEA statement last week that Iran has agreed to provide detailed responses to the agency’s inquiries before the end of this month (see GSN, April 23).

“Iran responded to all the ambiguities mentioned by the IAEA in line with the agreement (of August 2007) and is ready to respond to all the questions and ambiguities as part of its cooperation with the agency, just like any state,” Soltanieh said (Agence France-Presse I/Google News, May 1).

A high-level Russian official said yesterday that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons, RIA Novosti reported.

Russian Security Council acting chief Valentin Sobolev arrived in Tehran with a Russian team on Sunday to discuss the international stalemate over Iran’s nuclear program as well as other issues.

“We believe that Iran is currently not involved in nuclear research for military purposes, but we are certain that our opinion must be shared by all countries involved in the resolution of this (Iranian uranium enrichment) problem,” Sobolev said.

“We also believe that Iran must show more initiative and actively participate in talks with the Iran Six to clarify all outstanding controversial issues regarding its nuclear research,” he said, referring to the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany (RIA Novosti, April 30)

Germany said the six powers would attempt during talks set for tomorrow in the United Kingdom to advance a plan incorporating penalties and possible incentives to encourage Iran to halt its disputed nuclear activities, AFP reported today.

“We will continue the discussion Friday on how we can start talks with Tehran and in what framework; how we can take a step towards Iran if an opportunity arises,” a German Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

The French Foreign Ministry hopes to emphasize its commitment to diplomacy “by presenting Iran with a new offer of cooperation based on the one they presented in 2006,” a spokesman said (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, May 1).

Meanwhile, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman yesterday denied a CBS News report’s claim that the Pentagon has begun designing a new blueprint for conducting military strikes on Iran.

“I’m not aware of any ramping up or revision of war plans for Iran,” Geoff Morell said.  “Reports suggesting that are not consistent with what I know to be going on at the Pentagon.”

On Tuesday, Gates said the Pentagon is not planning to attack Iran (Agence France-Presse III/Google News, April 30).

At the United Nations, an Iranian official yesterday denounced a threat by U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton to “totally obliterate” Iran if Tehran launches a nuclear strike on Israel, the Associated Press reported.

Iranian deputy U.N. envoy Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi wrote in a letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Security Council members that Clinton had “unwarrantedly and under erroneous and false pretexts threatened to use force against the Islamic Republic of Iran.” 

Danesh-Yazdi did not specify in the letter that Clinton had threatened to attack Iran only if Iran first used nuclear weapons against Israel (Edith Lederer, Associated Press/Google News, May 1).

Meanwhile, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz today said that intelligence indicates that Iran could achieve technical mastery of its nuclear equipment within months, AFP reported.

“The Iranians could cross the technological line within a relatively short time, within months, before the end of the year,” Mofaz told army radio.  “We have to prepare for that scenario” (Agence France-Presse IV/Spacewar.com, May 1).

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