30 October 2009: Reuters
(Reuters) -By Sylvia Westall and Mark Heinrich
VIENNA/LONDON
(Reuters) - Iran has yet to give a formal response to a U.N.-drafted
nuclear fuel proposal after signaling it would do so this week, then
leaking demands for major changes that could unravel the tentative pact.
Western
diplomats complained of stalling tactics by Iran, suggesting it had
scant interest in following through on a plan they saw as crucial to
demonstrating Tehran wants refined uranium only for peaceful purposes,
as it says, not to make nuclear bombs.
They said Iran's initial
reply to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Thursday did
not form a basis for negotiation and it was urgent that Tehran gave a
full, official response to the proposed deal with the United States,
France and Russia.
Western officials remained largely quiet on
Iran's signals and left IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei to push
the Islamic Republic for more details.
"As far as the government's response is concerned, this is still outstanding," a diplomat close to the IAEA said.
"The
IAEA has to wait until Iran responds (fully) and take it from there.
Naturally they are aware of the urgency of their formal reply." Iran
missed an initial IAEA deadline for a response last Friday.
Iran's
official IRNA news agency said on Friday Tehran had not yet given its
final response and was ready for more talks. However, the report
suggested Iran would remain evasive.
"Even if a next round of
talks was held, Iran would announce its opinion and not an answer,"
IRNA quoted an informed source as saying.
The IAEA draft pact
calls for Iran to transfer about 75 percent of its known 1.5 tons of
low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia for further enrichment by the end
of this year, then to France for conversion into fuel plates for a
Tehran reactor that produces radio isotopes for cancer treatment.
French
Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Iran appeared to have
given only a verbal indication of its position and proposed changes
which he did not specify.
"We call on Iran to give the agency a
formal, positive response on the accord without delay," Valero told a
regular news briefing in Paris.
According to Iranian media,
Tehran wants the LEU to be shipped out in small, staggered portions,
not all in one go as the draft text stipulates. Iran also wants to
import fuel for the reactor at the same time as sending material out.
This
would undo key aspects of the deal for big powers who want to minimize
Iran's potential to build atom bombs from its growing stockpile of
low-enriched uranium.
They have warned Iran it risks a fourth
round of sanctions if it fails to help defuse concerns about its atomic
program. Iran insists its nuclear work is for the peaceful generation
of electricity.
WEST QUIET
Western powers withheld substantive comment on Iran's delaying and demands for amendments to the pact.
U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signaled on Friday the United States
would allow talks with Iran over its nuclear program to play out before
considering fresh sanctions.
EU leaders urged Iran to accept the IAEA deal, saying progress would help open the door to further cooperation.
Diplomats said the ball was now in Iran's court.
"Iran
is stalling, but it isn't just a negotiation tactic," said Mark
Fitzpatrick, senior non-proliferation fellow at the International
Institute for Strategic Studies.
"It faces real political trouble
as all the power centers jockey for position. Nobody wants the rival to
get credit for landing the big prize of U.S. relations."
Iran's
clerical establishment agreed to talks with world powers to guarantee
its credibility after its disputed June presidential election and its
turbulent aftermath which harmed the legitimacy of the country's
leadership.
Some hardliners have criticized the establishment for
succumbing to international pressure to accept the deal, which could
prove a litmus test of President Barack Obama's diplomatic outreach and
his drive for nuclear disarmament worldwide.
"Iran has the
tremendous power to help or hurt Obama. He has really gone out on a
limb here," Fitzpatrick said. He said this could be a reason for
Washington's apparent patience.
"But the patience is certainly
not open-ended," he said. "(Iran's stalling) of course means there is
now more pressure from those who think this is all an (Iranian) ruse."
(Additional
reporting by James Mackenzie in Paris, Will Dunham in Washington and
David Brunnstrom in Brussels; editing by Andrew Dobbie )
