TEHRAN, 6 August 2005 — Iran yesterday rejected a broad package of trade and technology incentives offered by the European Union if it agreed to abandon nuclear fuel work, a move that risks an international crisis.
“The proposals are unacceptable,” nuclear negotiator Hossein Moussavian said, describing them as a “clear violation” of agreements between Iran and the European Union. “They negate Iran’s inalienable right,” he said.
EU negotiators have called for an emergency meeting of the UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which could refer Iran’s nuclear dossier to the Security Council for possible sanctions.
But a defiant Iran said it would also stick by its plans to resume uranium conversion, a preliminary stage in the nuclear fuel cycle, despite warnings that it would trigger an international crisis.
The European Union said Tehran, accused by arch-enemy the United States of seeking to build an atomic bomb, must commit “not to pursue fuel cycle activities” if it wants to benefit from the EU incentives.
The package, submitted by ambassadors from Britain, France and Germany, covers nuclear issues, political and security concerns, and offers economic and technological cooperation.
It follows nine months of tortuous negotiations between the so-called EU-3 and Iran, which in November agreed to suspend conversion and enrichment, which makes fuel which can be used for reactors or the explosive core of atom bombs.
The offer comes just days after Iran’s new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office, raising international concerns about the future policies of the Islamic republic.
The EU said it reaffirmed “Iran’s inalienable rights to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, exercised in conformity with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” but also demanded that it drop sensitive nuclear activities.
An EU letter “offered to supply nuclear reactor fuel as well as security, technology and trade guarantees in return for Iran dropping parts of its nuclear program that could be used to build atomic bombs.”
“As Iran will have an assured supply of fuel over the coming years, it will be able to provide the confidence needed by making a binding commitment not to pursue fuel cycle activities other than the construction and operation of light water power and research reactors,” the letter said, referring to less-sensitive nuclear activities.
However, construction of a heavy-water reactor being built at Arak “gives rise to proliferation concerns” and would have to be stopped, it said.
Iran has said repeatedly that its enrichment suspension is temporary and voluntary, as it insists on its right under the NPT.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said the world will face a “major international crisis” if Iran does not accept the proposals. “I hope Iran will heed the voice of reason.”
But if Iran resumes conversion, “then it is certain that the international community will ask the Security Council to intervene,” he said.
Moussavian said Iran’s decision to resume conversion — which turns uranium ore into a gas to be used in the enrichment process — at its Isfahan plant was “irrevocable” despite the threat of possible sanctions.
He had also warned Thursday that if the Europeans called an IAEA meeting, Iran may not maintain its freeze on enrichment at the Natanz plant.
