TEHRAN: Iran will accept the broad framework of a UN-brokered uranium deal but wants “very important changes,” state television said on Tuesday, adding Tehran will offer its formal response within 48 hours.
As state-owned Arabic-language television Al-Alam said Iran will demand key changes to the deal, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated Tehran has the right to pursue nuclear technology.
Officials, meanwhile, continued to express conflicting views on the draft that French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has said amounted to “wasting of time.”
State-owned Press TV reported that Tehran will not shift its entire stock of low-enriched uranium (LEU) — as hinted at by the deal — indicating Tehran would demand changes to it.
The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which drafted the deal, refused to comment on the reports, saying it is awaiting an official response from Tehran.
But Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, welcomed Iran’s reported acceptance and said he hoped to talk to Iranian officials on Wednesday, although he did not think the deal required any great adjustments.
“I would hope to have contact tomorrow, probably telephonically,” Solana said in Luxembourg. “The deal was a good deal and I don’t think this requires fundamental changes,” said Solana, adding that “it’s very difficult to know what it means: Important changes.”
Hard-line MP Mohammad Kosari, a member of Parliament’s committee on national security and foreign policy, said he “rejects the deal,” which he says will also “be rejected by the Majlis (Parliament) by a high margin.” It was unclear whether Parlia-ment’s approval was essential for the deal. But committee chairman Alaeddin Borujerdi said Iran should hand over its LEU in batches as it would help in “confidence-building” with world powers.
The draft pact calls for Iran to transfer around 75 percent of its known 1.5 tons of LEU to Russia for further enrichment by the end of this year, then to France for conversion into fuel plates. These would be returned to Tehran to power a research reactor.
