Global Security Newswire

Iran yesterday indicated it would hold further nuclear discussions with Brazil and Turkey, the two governments with which Tehran negotiated a proposal last month for enriching stockpiled Iranian uranium, Reuters reported (see GSN, June 29).

"There were some contacts with the foreign ministers of the three countries (Iran, Turkey and Brazil)," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said. "A joint meeting is on the agenda and we will announce it in the coming one or two days."

The three-nation plan calls for Iran to store 1,200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium in Turkey for one year; other countries would be expected within that period to provide nuclear material refined for use at a Tehran medical research reactor in exchange for the Iran-origin uranium.

The arrangement appeared similar to another proposal, formulated in October by the International Atomic Energy Agency, that was intended to defer the Middle Eastern state's enrichment activities long enough to more fully address U.S. and European concerns about its potential nuclear bomb-making capability. Tehran, which has insisted its nuclear ambitions are strictly peaceful, ultimately rejected the IAEA proposal worked out with France, Russia and the United States. Those nations, in turn, have expressed concerns about the later agreement.

Russia yesterday indicated it was seeking talks with Iran, the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency aimed at halting Iranian production of higher-enriched uranium. The Persian Gulf nation in February began further refining low-enriched uranium from its stockpile, ostensibly for producing medical isotopes at the research reactor.

"In the wake of the Brazilian and Turkish initiative, Russia, along with the United States, approached the director of the IAEA and proposed we arrange a meeting of technical experts from our three countries, including Iran, to discuss the possibility of supplying fuel for the experimental reactor in Iran, so that there will be no need for Iran to enrich the uranium to a level of 20 percent," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"I hope very much that Iran will respond positively and that this will help prevent the situation from deteriorating," Lavrov said (Ramin Mostafavi, Reuters I, June 29).

Turkey yesterday called for prompt resumption of the fuel exchange talks between Iran, the United States and European powers, Agence France-Presse reported.

"If they do not sit down and talk, we will be in a worse-off situation this time next year. Time is working against a solution," Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin said.

"[Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] alluded to the month of August (for the talks). We wish they would take place sooner," the official said.

Ozugergin called the uranium exchange plan an "important confidence-building measure."

"We would like this deal to be implemented and for negotiations to be held to resolve outstanding issues" to move toward ending the nuclear dispute, he said (Agence France-Presse I/Zawya, June 29).

Meanwhile, a U.N. Security Council group overseeing enforcement of economic penalties against Iran indicated Monday it was prepared to complete work related to implementing the body's fourth Iran sanctions resolution, which was adopted earlier this month, the United Nations announced (see related GSN story, today).

The resolution broadens the U.N. weapons embargo imposed on Iran and bars U.N. states from providing licenses to Iranian banks linked to the nation's nuclear or missile operations. It also prohibits any Iranian "activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons" and forbids Tehran from financially supporting uranium mining or other nuclear-related operations. Other measures include a block on Iranian activity on ballistic missiles that could be tipped with nuclear warheads (United Nations release, June 28).

Obama administration Iran sanctions czar Robert Einhorn yesterday urged Europe to move forward with its plan to adopt additional unilateral penalties against the Middle Eastern state, AFP reported (see GSN June 17). Einhorn said he met with EU officials in Brussels where the sides addressed punitive measures being formulated.

"What we hope is that stronger measures on the pressure side, on the sanctions side will give leaders in Iran strong incentives to come to the negotiating table and work with us on a solution to the nuclear issue," the official said.

"We very much welcome the declaration that was adopted on June 17 by the European Council. This was a strong statement of political intent to put in place effective measures that could raise the stakes for the Iranian regime.

"That was a political statement. Now the political statement needs to be translated into concrete, workable measures," Einhorn said.

"It's important for Europeans who are prepared to exercise restraint and cut back their own operations in Iran to believe that China is not going to step in and fill the vacuum," he added. "It's important that China recognizes its responsibilities as a great power for international peace and stability and to recognize that proliferation of nuclear weapons capabilities is not in China's interests."

Beijing "should resist the temptation to take advantage of business and investment opportunities where Europeans and other responsible players have decided to step back," the official said. "That's an important discussion that we have to have with China" (Agence France-Presse II/Google News, June 29).

Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki today said his nation was ready to weather the additional penalties, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported.

"Iran has gained suitable experience in confronting the impacts of sanctions, including a special economic unit," he said.

"Seventy percent of the the sanctions in the last five years have however been more a psychological war," Mottaki added. "We do not welcome sanctions but we will show decisive resistance and defend our nuclear rights with all our might" (Deutsche Presse-Agentur/Monsters and Critics, June 30).

Elsewhere, a video aired yesterday on Iranian television was said to show nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri describing his escape from U.S. agents, Reuters reported yesterday.

Amiri, 32, went missing in June 2009 while on his way to Saudi Arabia. News reports in the United States stated he had defected and was supporting CIA operations against Tehran's nuclear work, while the Iranian government said Amiri was kidnapped.

"Minutes ago I managed to escape American security agents in the state of Virginia. I am now in a safe place making this video," the man said in the footage. "I could be arrested again by American security agents any minute ... I am not free here and I do not have permission to contact my family or others and if anything happens to me or if I do not return to (my) country, the American government is directly responsible."

One U.S. official yesterday expressed skepticism about the video's origin.

"It's ludicrous for anyone to suggest that this individual was kidnapped by the United States," the official said. "If he's able to produce videos, it defies human logic to allege that he's somehow been held against his will by Americans" (Reuters II, June 29).

An ABC News report Monday stated that Amiri was forced to make an earlier video claiming he had been abducted after Iranian intelligence agents made threats against his son. The report, citing intelligence sources, said Amiri received the message when he made a telephone call to his home in Iran at some point this year.

"He missed his son," one source said. "And he couldn't help calling home to speak to him" (Matthew Cole, ABC News, June 28).