VIENNA/TEHRAN, 8 September 2004 — Iran is ready to renounce its efforts to assemble centrifuges to enrich uranium in order to avoid being brought before the UN Security Council over its nuclear program, diplomats said here yesterday. “An accord between Tehran and the Europeans seems imminent,” a European diplomat said here on condition of anonymity. “It could be reached even today (Tuesday),” he added.
Word of an accord comes less than a week before an important meeting of the board of governors of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency on Sept. 13. The deal envisions a halt “to the production and assembly of centrifuges” of the P2 kind which is used to enrich uranium, according to the source. “It could also extend to conversion tests”, which are an integral part of uranium enrichment and on which Tehran had been intent, he added.
Britain, Germany and France have been negotiating with the aim of getting Iran to “fully suspend any uranium enrichment activities, including making any components for centrifuges,” another Western diplomat told AFP. Enriched uranium can be used to provide fuel for reactors as well as nuclear warheads. The diplomat said the negotiations began three days ago and have moved between different European capitals. “These discussions have been going on for three days between ambassadors from the countries concerned and with the participation of (IAEA Secretary-General) Mohamed El-Baradei”, he told AFP.
Meanwhile, around 200 members of Iran’s hard-line Basij militia staged a fresh rally outside the French Embassy in Tehran yesterday in protest at a ban on Muslim girls wearing the head scarf in French state schools. “France is a prison for women”, “France’s decision is against human rights,” and “French law is a disgrace,” were among the slogans heard being chanted by the crowd, brought to the downtown diplomatic compound in buses.
Some three-quarters of the demonstrators were women dressed in the all-enveloping black chador. The chant of “Death to France” also featured among the more usual cries of “Death to America Israel”.
At the end of two-hour gathering, one of the protesters read out a statement from university student Basij members demanding the French government “to accelerate annulling this inhumane and unethical law.”
The statement also warned that “if the French government continues to enforce this Satanic law”, the Basij — a volunteer branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards — would pursue legal action in “international tribunals”. Every woman in Iran, regardless of her nationality or religion, is obliged to observe the Islamic dress code and cover their hair or face prosecution.
