Global Security Newswire

Iran faces internal political challenges that might be delaying its ability to agree on shipping a large portion of its low-enriched uranium abroad for further refinement by world powers, U.S. President Barack Obama said yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 9).

In an interview at the White House, Obama told Reuters that his administration has done more in recent months to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons than Washington had accomplished in a number of years.

"But it is going to take time, and part of the challenge that we face is that neither North Korea nor Iran seem to be settled enough politically to make quick decisions on these issues," he said.

"Although so far we have not seen the kind of positive response we want from Iran, we are as well positioned as we've ever been to align the international community behind that agenda," Obama added.

The United States and other Western powers have expressed concern that Iran's nuclear program could support nuclear-weapon development; Tehran has insisted it atomic ambitions are strictly civilian in nature (Bohan/Colvin, Reuters, Nov. 9).

At talks early last month with the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany, Iran tentatively agreed to terms intended to defer its ability to fuel a nuclear weapon with material produced from its low-enriched uranium stockpile. France, Russia and the United States indicated their support for a version of the proposal put forward by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, but Iran appeared to balk at the plan's call for the rapid transfer of much of its uranium.

Iranian and Turkish delegates recently convened in Istanbul to discuss Turkey's possible participation in the uranium deal, Bloomberg reported yesterday.

Tehran, though, has appeared to rule out a proposal by ElBaradei for Turkey to temporarily store the Iranian uranium. The suggestion was aimed at addressing Iranian fears that Western powers might not return the nation's uranium under the U.N. plan, which calls for the material to be enriched for use at a Tehran medical research reactor.

"We want to give some space to Iran to work through this,” said Glyn Davies, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. nuclear watchdog. “It’s a tough issue for them. We’re looking for an early, positive response.”

The enrichment plan is "an important deal because it has broader implications for how Iran and its neighbors” would “go into the future,” Davies said.

Washington, he said, wants to put its past tensions with Tehran "behind us, the past of mistrust and missteps and 30 years of miscalculation and find a better way into the future” (Ben Holland, Bloomberg, Nov. 9).

"The events of the next few days and the past few days are important for Iran to contemplate as they make decision moving forward," added White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. "They have to essentially agree to their previous agreement on the research reactor, and I think the world is watching and waiting for their conclusive decisions on that" (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, Nov. 9).

"If Iran fails to take steps in its control to demonstrate its responsibility to the world, then sanctions may be necessary," Reuters quoted him as saying

Punitive measures under consideration by world powers would prove to the Iranians that "there were consequences if they failed to fulfill their obligations," said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (David Alexander, Reuters II/Washington Post, Nov. 9).

"We've always said that every option is on the table. Our goal is to prevent or dissuade Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons," Clinton later added on PBS' "Charlie Rose Show."

"It is not in Iran's interest to have a nuclear arms race in the Gulf, where they would be less secure than they are today. It is not in Iran's interest, to the Iranian people's interest, to be subjected to very onerous sanctions," Clinton said (Agence France-Presse II/Google News, Nov. 10).

Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed Iran's disputed nuclear work during a meeting yesterday, ITAR-Tass reported.

“The presidents discussed the Middle East settlement, issues connected with the Iranian nuclear program, bilateral relations and the schedule of bilateral contacts,” said Kremlin spokeswoman Natalia Timakova (ITAR-Tass, Nov. 9).