VIENNA/TEHRAN, 30 October 2004 — The UN nuclear watchdog has offered to guarantee Iran a supply of fuel for its nuclear power plants so that Tehran would not need to enrich its own uranium, Western diplomats said yesterday. Diplomats said that the head of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed El-Baradei, made this offer to help France, Britain and Germany in their talks with Iran aimed at persuading the Islamic republic to abandon its controversial uranium enrichment program.
“El-Baradei and the IAEA have offered to guarantee Iran’s fuel supply,” a Western diplomat familiar with the European Union’s negotiations with the Iranians. The diplomat said that the Iranians, who insist their nuclear program is peaceful, have argued that if they give up their nuclear fuel production capabilities, they will never have a reliable source of fuel for their nuclear reactors.
Iran has demanded a guaranteed supply from the Europeans, but has not yet been satisfied with any of the proposals as to where the fuel would come from. So, this IAEA offer could help break the deadlock.
“Iran is afraid that the US could put pressure on Russia to halt its fuel supplies to Iran and they would not have fuel for their reactors,” the diplomat said.
Iran’s influential former President Hashemi Rafsanjani said yesterday that Iran would continue talks with Europe over its nuclear activities but reject any threats aimed at depriving the country of peaceful nuclear technology.
“We agree to continue negotiations within the framework of international rules but if the Europeans want to use threats, there is no more place for negotiations,” Rafsanjani said on state radio.
“We have the feeling that the Europeans are now more serious and the hope of arriving at an acceptable point exists,” Rafsanjani said. He also expressed his hope that the European three “do not become an instrument in the hands of the Americans”.
Iran’s supreme guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Wednesday that Tehran could break off nuclear talks with the international community if it insisted on a long-term suspension of uranium enrichment, a key stage in the nuclear cycle.
“I say to those negotiating with representatives of the Iranian people not to lead us to the conclusion, through unjust and illogical words, that they do not believe in negotiations based on logic, because in that case, the people and the Islamic regime will leave the negotiating table,” he said.
