TEHRAN, 13 November 2005 — Iran insisted yesterday it would carry out all nuclear fuel work at home, rejecting a proposal to outsource sensitive production abroad that aimed to avert an escalation of tensions on Tehran’s atomic program.
Igor Ivanov, head of Russia’s Security Council, was in Tehran with what was thought to be an offer under which Russia might conduct sensitive nuclear fuel work on Iran’s behalf.
“Iranian nuclear fuel will be produced in Iran itself,” Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization head Gholamreza Aghazadeh said after a meeting with Ivanov.
“What is important is that the enrichment (of uranium) takes place in Iran,” he said.
The remarks — the most unequivocal rejection yet of moves for Iran undertake its sensitive uranium enrichment work abroad — were echoed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“Iran is not favorable towards being sent to the UN Security Council but it will not accept pressure from the hegemonic powers,” Ahmadinejad said during his talks with Ivanov, according to the ISNA agency.
Ivanov’s visit came ahead of a Nov. 24 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board, which will consider referring Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
Earlier, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator had indicated that Tehran was cool on any proposal that would see parts of the nuclear fuel cycle taken out of its hands.
“What matters to us is to preserve nuclear technology in Iranian hands,” nuclear chief Ali Larijani was quoted by the student news agency ISNA as saying.
“Nuclear technology is the Iranians’ right; it is a right that no one can deny.”
It was still not clear exactly what offers Ivanov had presented to the Iranians and the Russian official insisted that he had come with no specific proposal.
“The Russian government will have a certain number of discussions with Iranian officials in order to reach a better solution,” he said on his arrival on Friday.
“I hope we will reach a common point of view,” he added, saying he had not brought a “specific” proposal with him.
Instead, Ivanov said he came to encourage Tehran to resume talks on its nuclear program with the so-called EU-3 — Britain, France and Germany. “Russia is ready to provide help,” he said.
Under a proposal reportedly being floated, Iran would be allowed to carry out an initial step in making nuclear fuel — converting uranium ore into the uranium hexafluoride gas that is the feedstock for making enriched uranium.
But enrichment itself would be done in Russia under an offer said to be under consideration by the European Union and the United States.
Russia, which is veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, has a lucrative contract to build Iran’s first nuclear power reactor and has in the past thwarted US attempts to take Tehran to the Security Council.
