Indian leaders have broken the impasse over a tentative nuclear trade agreement with the United States by receiving the backing of the socialist Samajwadi Party, Bloomberg reported Saturday. The new support for the deal enables Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to implement the agreement without risking early elections, an outcome threatened by Singh’s formerly key communist allies who have opposed the pact (see GSN, July 3). The nuclear deal would allow New Delhi to purchase U.S. nuclear materials and technology for the first time in more than 30 years, but the communist critics have complained that the agreement provides Washington with excessive influence over Indian energy and military affairs. The communist opposition has become far less important now that the Samajwadi Party has backed the deal. “The nuclear deal is in the interest of the nation,” Samajwadi senior leader Amar Singh told reporters Saturday. “We should have come out in support of the deal a year ago” (Bibhudatta Pradhan, Bloomberg, July 7). With 39 parliamentary seats, the party can provide nearly all of the 44 seats that the prime minister needs to maintain a majority, even if the 59 communist party lawmakers withdraw their current support. The additional five seats would be sought from smaller parties, Reuters reported today (Alistair Scrutton, Reuters, July 7). Singh said today that he would soon complete a nuclear inspections agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency as required by the U.S. deal. The agency would monitor India’s entire civilian nuclear sector while leaving the nation’s nuclear-weapon activities untouched. Singh was “not worried” any longer about the political repercussions of finishing the inspections agreement, he told reporters enroute to a meeting of G-8 leaders in Japan, adding that he did not “foresee election before its time” (NDTV, July 7). The communist critics have scheduled a meeting to make their plans. “We will discuss our next course of action tomorrow,” said T.J. Chandrachoodan, general secretary of the Revolutionary Socialist Party. The Singh government has offered to hold a new round of talks with the deal opponents on July 10, Bloomberg reported (Pradhan, Bloomberg). Meanwhile, the IAEA governing board is expected to convene July 28 to approve the inspections plan, the Associated Press reported today. The decision would clear the way for a group of supplier nations to formally discuss exempting India from trade rules that currently ban key nuclear sales to nations that have not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and do not allow international monitoring of all their atomic activities (George Jahn, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, July 7). Should the deal receive both the IAEA blessing and the supplier nation approval, it would then need the additional backing of the U.S. Congress, which has already supported the agreement by exempting India from U.S. nuclear nonproliferation laws. Time for that step might have run out, however, as lawmakers turn their focus on retaining their seats in November elections. Queried on the matter, one key U.S. House member expressed uncertainty last week that there was enough time under the Bush administration. “Possible? Yes. Probable? No,” said Representative Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee (Timmons/Sengupta, New York Times, July 5).
Iran addressed an international incentives package on its nuclear program Friday without saying whether it would satisfy a key international demand to suspend uranium enrichment work that could produce nuclear weapon material, the New York Times reported (see GSN, July 3). In a letter delivered Friday to the European Union, Iran proposed starting negotiations on a wide variety of issues with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany. The message did not include a direct response to the offer aimed at persuading Tehran to suspend sensitive nuclear activities. “The time for negotiating from the condescending position of inequality has come to an end,” diplomatic officials quoted the letter by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as saying. The letter also decries current U.N. nuclear penalties against Iran as “illegal” and refers to a “lack of trust” stemming from the “duplicitous behavior of certain big powers.” Iran maintains that its uranium enrichment program would only produce nuclear power plant fuel (Elaine Sciolino, New York Times I, July 5). “Iran’s stand regarding its peaceful nuclear program has not changed,” Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said at a weekly news conference Saturday (Elaine Sciolino, New York Times II, July 6). White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a statement that the Bush administration would “study the Iranian response” and consult with the other five powers “before responding formally.” A British Foreign Office official said: “We have received the Iranian response and we are consulting” with the other powers before giving a response (Sciolino, New York Times I). Diplomatic officials noted concern that Iran’s response might force them to negotiate with Tehran even if it continues its uranium enrichment program. “There is nothing unexpected in the response, but it forces us to say, ‘They want to negotiate so we want to negotiate,’” an official said. “We still have to decide on the conditions for negotiations. We are very skeptical” (Sciolino, New York Times II). Solana today said he plans to meet with top Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili later this month, Agence France-Presse reported. He might discuss an agenda for future negotiations with Iran during a “freeze-for-freeze” period, in which the Security Council would halt moves to impose new sanctions on Iran while Tehran temporarily stops expanding its enrichment capability, diplomatic sources indicated (Agence France-Presse I/Google News, July 7). However, Solana played down the likelihood of changing Iran’s nuclear intentions, AFP reported. “It’s difficult,” he said, characterizing the Iranian message as a “complicated and difficult letter that must be thoroughly analyzed.” U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said “the varying public responses from various parts of the Iranian government [indicated] that there is clearly a debate, or at least a discussion, going on within the Iranian government on how to respond” to the offer. He said senior diplomats from the six nations were scheduled today to discuss "the current state of play" with Iran. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed again today that his nation would not relinquish its rights under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to peaceful atomic activities (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, July 7). Mottaki yesterday called Iran’s most recent exchanges with the six powers and the European Union “different from the previous discussions and negotiations,” Reuters reported. "I believe that we are now in a new environment with a new approaching perspective," he told CNN (Peter Kaplan, Reuters/International Herald Tribune, July 6). However, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner expressed little optimism in remarks today, AFP reported. "I don't think that [Iran’s response] provides great hope. But it gives a little bit of hope," he told reporters. "I have just read the outline. I will receive it this afternoon" (Agence France-Presse III/Spacewar.com, July 7). Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today told U.S. President George W. Bush that Moscow would strive to open nuclear talks with Iran, Russian foreign adviser Sergei Prikhodko told reporters. "Russia will do everything to stimulate dialogue with Iran and expects corresponding signals from the leaders of Iran," Prikhodko said (Agence France-Presse IV/Spacewar.com, July 7). Meanwhile, an official close to recent U.S.-Israeli military talks said that Israel would attack Iranian nuclear facilities before Tehran acquires the amount of uranium needed for a nuclear weapon or receives Russian air-defenses to protect its nuclear sites, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. "The Israelis have a real sense of urgency," the official said. "They are stepping up their preparations. But the Israelis and the Americans are worried about each other's lack of intelligence. "The Americans had spies in Iran until they were rounded up in 2003 and now they do not have much by way of (human intelligence) on the ground. The Israelis have better information. But the Americans went away from the meetings unconvinced that the Israelis have enough intelligence on where to strike, and with little confidence that they will be able to destroy the nuclear program" (Tim Shipman, Sydney Morning Herald, July 7). The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said Thursday his nation would view any strike against its nuclear facilities as an act of war, AFP reported. "Any action against Iran will be interpreted as the start of a war," said Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari. "Iran's response to any military action will make the aggressors regret their decision" (Agence France-Presse V/Google News, July 4). Elsewhere, a former Iranian ambassador to Italy said last week that Ahmadinejad in June had been the target of an assassination plot in Rome involving heavy X-ray radiation, RIA Novosti reported. “On the eve of the (Iranian) president's visit to Rome, we checked the radiation levels in his temporary residence," Abolfazi Zohrevand told Iranian state media. "We found out that the radiation was higher than normal and its intensity was rapidly increasing” (RIA Novosti, June 30).
North Korea said Friday that other nations in the six-party process must provide aid promised last year if they expect the Stalinist state to carry out additional denuclearization efforts, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 4). Pyongyang in 2007 agreed to give up its nuclear operations in exchange for economic, diplomatic and security benefits from China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. While North Korea has disabled 80 percent of the Yongbyon nuclear complex, it has received only 40 percent of the 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or equivalent energy assistance promised by the five nations, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. “The other participating parties in the six-way talks should join (North Korea) in its efforts by honestly fulfilling their commitments,” according to the statement. The denuclearization process had appeared stagnant for much of 2007 until Pyongyang last month issued the long-overdue declaration of its nuclear activities and holdings. Washington, in response, lifted some trade sanctions and moved to remove North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. The Foreign Ministry said Friday that it was not yet off the list — removal is a 45-day process — and that relaxation of sanctions had not been completely carried out. It pledged to delay progress on the third phase of the denuclearization deal — full dismantlement of the nation’s nuclear infrastructure — until it received all anticipated energy and political concessions. “This is the basic requirement of the principle of ‘action for action’ and the consistent stand of the D.P.R.K.,” according to the statement (Hyung-Jin Kim, Associated Press I/San Diego Union-Tribune, July 4). U.S. President George W. Bush said yesterday that North Korea had yet to fulfill all of its commitments under the agreement, the London Guardian reported. “North Korea did provide a declaration of its plutonium-related activities and did blow up the cooling tower of its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon,” he said. “That’s been verified as a positive step, but there are more steps to be taken. I view this process as a multistep process where there will be action for action. “We are concerned about enriched uranium and proliferation, human rights abuses and ballistic missile programs,” Bush added. Bush also pledged that his administration “will not abandon” Japan as it presses for answers regarding Japanese citizens who might remain in North Korea after being abducted decades ago. Pyongyang has consistently claimed that it returned all surviving abductees, who were taken to help train North Korean spies; however, the regime pledged recently to revisit the matter (Justin McCurry, London Guardian, July 6). The U.S. State Department’s Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund to date has directed $19.5 million for disablement activities at Yongbyon, the agency said Thursday (U.S. State Department release, July 3). State Department spokesman Seam McCormack said that nine of the 12 disablement projects at Yongbyon have been completed, the Yonhap News Agency reported (Yonhap News Agency, July 3). The North Korean nuclear declaration says the nation directed 25.5 kilograms of plutonium collected from the Yongbyon reactor for its nuclear weapons program, Kyodo News reported. That amount could be used to produce five or more weapons, sources said. It apparently does not include the 2 kilograms of plutonium used in North Korea’s nuclear test blast in October 2006. North Korea reportedly claimed to have extracted 38.5 kilograms of plutonium, not including material in used fuel rods or still found in equipment at Yongbyon. The nuclear declaration does not provide the locations of North Korea’s nuclear weapons or nuclear sites not yet known by the other nations, one source said (Kyodo News, July 4). South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said the five nations worry that North Korea does not intend to give up its arsenal, Agence France-Presse reported. “There is concern that North Korea might want to retain nuclear weapons that they have already produced so, in fact, they can be considered as a nuclear weapon state,” he told Kyodo News. “This is a very serious concern we all have.” The six-party talks are at a “very pivotal point” and full negotiations could resume Friday or Saturday, one high-level U.S. official said (Agence France-Presse/Khaleej Times, July 7). Lee said he would meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il “at any time” in order to promote the denuclearization process, AP reported (Associated Press II/Yahoo!News, July 7).
A shipment of uranium enrichment centrifuges to North Korea eight years ago was approved by Pakistan’s top leadership and supervised by the army, former top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan said Friday (see GSN, June 27). Khan’s claim was the most direct charge yet that President Pervez Musharraf was involved in an international nuclear smuggling ring that provided key technologies to Iran, Libya and North Korea, the Associated Press reported. Khan said used P-1 centrifuges were loaded onto North Korea aircraft with the “complete knowledge” of the Pakistani army and security services. “It was a North Korean plane, and the army had complete knowledge about it and the equipment,” he said in an interview from the home where he has been held under house arrest since his 2004 confession to leading the smuggling network (see GSN, July 3). Khan this year has recanted his admission, saying he gave it under the false promise that he would be granted his freedom (see GSN, June 4). A Musharraf representative denied the charge. “I can say with full confidence that it is all lies and false statements,” said spokesman Rashid Qureshi (Munir Ahmad, Associated Press/Google News, July 5). A top military official also refuted Khan’s claim, while acknowledging that 12 centrifuges had been sent to North Korea in 2000 and an additional unit had been delivered earlier. “Technically, yes it happened in his (Musharraf’s) tenure, but giving an impression that he or the army was aware or supervised it is wrong,” said Lt. Gen. Khalid Kidwai, head of the nation’s Strategic Planning Division. “I would like to categorically say it is absolutely wrong, false” (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 5).
The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration announced Thursday that it had retrieved nearly 40 pounds of U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium from Denmark, Germany, Japan and Sweden (see GSN, May 16). The agency moved the material, contained in spent nuclear reactor fuel, by sea and rail to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Nine sealed sources of plutonium 239 were also collected. “NNSA works with countries around the world to secure civilian nuclear and radiological material, including highly enriched uranium and plutonium sources” that could be used in nuclear weapons,” NNSA Administrator Thomas D’Agostino said in a press release. “On the same week as the 40th anniversary of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, this cooperative effort with out partner countries to oversee this complex shipment of material to the U.S. demonstrates the international commitment to nonproliferation and global threat reduction” (see GSN, June 30). The agency has conducted 42 shipments of U.S.-origin nuclear fuel from 28 nations under the Global Threat Reduction Initiative. To date more than 2,500 pounds of HEU fuel — which could power no less than 45 nuclear weapons — and more than 8,300 fuel assemblies have been returned to the United States. All U.S.-origin HEU fuel has been removed from 13 nations — Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Greece, Italy, the Philippines, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Thailand (U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration release, July 3).
The United States on Saturday completed a secret project to remove a major uranium stockpile from Iraq, ending a three-month operation aimed at keeping the material out of the hands of insurgents and neighboring Iran, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, May 24). The 550 metric tons of “yellowcake” uranium had been processed from uranium ore during the Hussein regime and could have been enriched for use in nuclear weapons. The material would not pose a significant threat if scattered in its current form by a radiological “dirty bomb” detonation, although its incorporation in a weapon would likely cause public alarm, according to AP. "Everyone is very happy to have this safely out of Iraq," said a high-level U.S. official who described the operation. The Iraqi government sold the uranium to the Canadian uranium production firm Cameco Corp. for “tens of millions of dollars,” according to the U.S. official. The material, which was delivered to a Canadian port on Saturday, would be used to produce fuel for nuclear power plants, said Cameco spokesman Lyle Krahn. Remaining radioactive debris must now be cleaned up at Iraq’s Tuwaitha nuclear facility, located about 12 miles from Baghdad. Iraqi personnel were recently trained in the Ukrainian fallout zone of the 1986 Chernobyl reactor meltdown to participate in the cleanup (Brian Murphy, Associated Press/Google News, July 6).
Russian foreign policy adviser Sergei Prikhodko accused the United States of failing to develop good-faith proposals for replacing a key strategic weapons reduction pact, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 4). The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty limits the number of U.S. and Russian long-range nuclear delivery vehicles, but the pact is set to expire in December 2009. “In the words of the U.S. side there is a willingness to achieve agreement on the replacement of the START I treaty,” Prikhodko told reporters. “But in fact there is no movement. As before, Russia is being offered empty proposals in the form of transparency measures that exclude control over strategic missiles and several other components of START I.” The official said he still hopes that "the current impasse could be overcome and a mutually acceptable understanding be reached by the end of the year," shortly before the inauguration of the next U.S. president. “The global community expects this from us,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, July 6).
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