BERLIN, 17 May 2006 — The EU’s three biggest powers plan to offer Iran a light-water nuclear reactor as part of a package of incentives if Tehran agrees to freeze its uranium enrichment program, EU diplomats said yesterday.
“The EU3 and Solana are planning an offer of a European light-water reactor to Iran in return for a suspension of its enrichment program,” a European Union diplomat familiar with the negotiations on Iran told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
He said senior diplomats from the “EU3” — Britain, France and Germany -- and the office of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana would discuss the proposed incentives plan with their US, Russian and Chinese counterparts in London on Friday.
Denis Simonneau, deputy spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry, told a regular news briefing in Paris that the deal being put together comprised three sections. His comments all but confirmed what the diplomats told Reuters. “There is, in fact, a section that deals with civilian nuclear cooperation,” he said. “I will not go into detail about it, for more work has to be done on it. But it is a fact that there are proposals about civilian nuclear cooperation with Iran.”
The United States and the EU accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian atomic energy program, an allegation Tehran vehemently denies.
Tehran has said that it would not accept any EU offer that required it to give up its right to enrich uranium, a right that is guaranteed by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. EU diplomats said they would be very surprised if Iran accepted their offer, adding that rejection would be seen as confirmation that Tehran’s nuclear program does not solely aim at generating electricity for peaceful ends.
The EU trio first proposed the idea of supporting Iranian efforts to develop light-water technology in an offer they made to Tehran in August 2005. That offer, which Iran rejected, followed two years of negotiations.
At the time, the Iranians complained that the European offer was too vague and contained no specific carrots.
EU diplomats said the new offer would be much more specific, partly because they now have the full support of Washington to offer Iran a nuclear power plant. This, they said, will show skeptical countries like Russia and China that the West is not trying to deprive Iran of civilian nuclear energy.
“Last year, Washington was still hesitant about the idea of offering Iran a reactor. But they fully support our plans now,” said an EU diplomat.
Russia is currently building a light-water reactor at Bushehr in Iran.
Meanwhile, Iran’s central bank said yesterday that the country had steeled its economy against possible UN sanctions but will not repatriate oil earnings as a precaution or switch them into local currency.
Central Bank Governor Ebrahim Sheibani said the world’s fourth biggest oil exporter would continue to spread its bumper crude earnings across accounts around the world.
“We have our reserves spread in different parts of the world in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Subcontinent. We are doing this for the expediency of the country,” he said when asked at a news conference about asset transfers before any sanctions.
“Naturally it is not in one, two, three or 10 places. We have been putting it in different countries for a while. Now we are continuing to do this,” he added. Tehran has been referred to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions, after failing to convince the international community that its nuclear scientists are building only power stations and not bombs.
