TEHRAN: Iran handed a package of proposals to world powers on Wednesday, as it came under renewed Western pressure to swiftly engage in “meaningful” talks to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program.
Tehran says its proposals address “various global issues” and represent a “new opportunity for talks and cooperation.” But it was not clear what the proposals were and whether they would be enough to avert the threat of further sanctions on Iran.
Hours before the package was handed to representatives of world powers in Iran, the United States said Tehran was moving closer to being able to make atomic bombs by stockpiling enriched uranium.
“We have serious concerns that Iran is deliberately attempting, at a minimum, to preserve a nuclear weapons option,” US envoy Glyn Davies told a meeting of the 35-nation governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). “Iran is now either very near or in possession already of sufficient low-enriched uranium to produce one nuclear weapon if the decision were made to further enrich it to weapons-grade,” Davies said at the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog body.
Iran says its nuclear program is aimed at producing electricity and has repeatedly rejected demands to halt enrichment, which can have both civilian and military purposes.
IAEA Director General Mohamed El-Baradei said his nonproliferation inspectors had “serious concerns,” but we are not in a state of panic.
“That is because we have not seen diversion of nuclear material (from declared civilian uses), we have not seen components of nuclear weapons. We do not have any information to that effect,” he said.
But Davies’ remark pointed to growing Western disquiet about Iran’s nuclear advances, largely out of sight due to the restrictions Iran has placed on UN inspections.
El-Baradei said intelligence material suggesting Iran had illicitly studied how to assemble nuclear arms was serious and Tehran must address it, not just issue unsubstantiated denials.
Meanwhile, Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi warned supporters on Wednesday of dangers ahead after a top aide was arrested amid a new crackdown on groups protesting the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
