Iran agreed with mediators Brazil and Turkey on Monday it would send some of its uranium abroad, abruptly ending its refusal to countenance such a deal just as the UN Security Council readied tougher sanctions.
It was not immediately clear whether Iran’s apparent concessions, following months of deadlock over a UN-drafted fuel swap plan, would satisfy major powers which have been discussing a new round of punitive UN measures against Tehran. Analysts say the agreement may allow Tehran to avert new tougher UN sanctions, split the major powers and help the leadership reassert its authority after months of unrest and opposition that followed the presidential election in June 2009.
A European Commission spokesman said the agreement between the leaders of Iran, Turkey and Brazil may be a step in the right direction, but details needed to be seen. The UN nuclear agency watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, declined immediate comment. Diplomats in Vienna said it did not appear the IAEA had been informed about the details of the agreement announced in the Iranian capital.
Iran said it had agreed to transfer 1,200 kg of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey within a month in return for higher-enriched nuclear fuel for a medical research reactor. No more than one year later, Iran will get 120 kg of 20 per cent enriched uranium under an arrangement involving the IAEA, as well as the United States, France and Russia.
Iran, which says its atomic programme is purely for peaceful purposes and not to make bombs as the West suspects, had earlier insisted any such exchange must take place simultaneously and on its territory. A mediation offer by Turkey and Brazil, both non-permanent Security Council members, had been seen as the last chance to resolve the dispute and avoid a fourth round of UN sanctions. The deal enables Iran to meet Western terms without dealing directly with major powers. Mr Erdogan, a moderate and popular Islamist leader who took a stand against Israel over the war on Gaza in 2008, is a much more palatable figure for the Iranian establishment to deal with and sell a deal at home.
“Iran expressed its readiness to deposit its LEU within one month. On the basis of the same agreement the Vienna Group should deliver 120 kg fuel required for Tehran research reactor in no later than one year,” they said in a joint declaration. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Iran’s LEU would be under IAEA supervision in Turkey. The IAEA would be notified within a week about the swap deal, he said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on six world powers to start new negotiations with his country. “They should welcome the major event that took place in Tehran and distance themselves from the atmosphere of pressure and sanctions to create an opportunity for interaction and cooperation with Iran,” Mr Ahmadinejad said.
Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu hailed the deal as a “historic turning point” and said there was no need for the world to consider any further punitive measures against Iran.
“I think that declaration, in our view, eliminates whatever doubts for sanctions against Iran. There is no ground to keep trying for new sanctions... The swap agreement should be the gateway for broader discussions,” Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim told reporters.