Iran Yields Little in Talks With Monitors
VIENNA — Iran turned down a request by United Nations nuclear monitors for a second inspection of a military site, and an Iranian representative said Tuesday that a permanent moratorium on uranium enrichment was "not on the table."
However, Sirius Naseri, an Iranian delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency, added that Iran was continuing negotiations with three European countries who are urging Tehran to give up its enrichment activities in exchange for incentives such as commercial aircraft parts and possibly membership in the World Trade Organization. Enriched uranium can be used either to generate nuclear energy or make nuclear weapons.
U.S. officials and diplomats from some other countries say Iran is striving to build a nuclear bomb despite its assurances that it plans to use the uranium only for energy production. Though Iran has agreed to a temporary halt in enrichment, it says it was only a good-faith gesture during negotiations.
Naseri said Tuesday at the IAEA meeting in Vienna that a permanent moratorium on uranium enrichment "was not on the table, will not be on the table and should not be on the table."
He indicated that Iran's position in negotiations would depend on what the Europeans offered in the way of incentives. "If there is a political agreement, it has to be a give-and-take
But he added, referring to uranium enrichment, "Iran will have a nuclear fuel production program for peaceful purposes."
Britain, Germany and France are trying to get the United States to back their talks with Iran because without U.S. assent, they can't guarantee Iran what it wants, particularly WTO membership.
Washington appears ready to work with the Europeans but has indicated it will do so only if Iran relinquishes any ambition to obtain nuclear weapons and there is a process to monitor and verify its nuclear activities.
The burden "is on the Iranians to take the opportunity that is being given to them by the European Union to demonstrate that they're prepared to live up to their international obligations in a way that is verifiable and that gives confidence to the international community that they are not going to try to build a nuclear weapon," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday in London.
So far, Rice said, Iran has been unwilling to cooperate fully with the IAEA.
Those concerns were echoed in a report given to the IAEA board Tuesday by Pierre Goldschmidt, a deputy secretary-general of the agency.
