Iran vacillates on UN-proposed N-deal

TEHRAN (Reuters/AFP) - Russia should keep its word on selling a missile defence system to Iran, an influential parliamentarian was quoted by Iranian media as saying Sunday. Moscow, which is under Western pressure to distance itself from Tehran, has not followed through on proposals to supply high-grade S300 air defence missiles to the Islamic state. If Russia does not keep its promises to deliver the missiles, it would be a negative point in our relations, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of parliaments foreign policy and national security committee, said in comments carried by official news agency ISNA. Avoiding delivery of S300 defence system to Iran, if that is Russias official stance, would be a new chapter in breaking promises by the Russians. A day after suggesting that Tehran could reject the UN-proposed nuclear deal, the lawmaker said proposals from world powers to supply nuclear fuel for a research reactor in Iran are still on the table. Our first option is to buy fuel of 20pc (enrichment), ISNA and Mehr news agencies quoted Borujerdi as saying. But if we cannot buy it, we could make a limited exchange on condition that first we get fuel of 20pc, he added. Borujerdi on Saturday said Iran had decided to reject proposals from major powers for the supply of nuclear fuel, in what was seen as a serious setback for UN-brokered efforts to allay Western concerns about Tehrans atomic ambitions. Under the plan thrashed out in talks with France, Russia and the US, Iran was to have shipped out most of its own stocks of low-enriched uranium (LEU) in return for fuel to power a research reactor in Tehran. The proposals were designed to assuage fears that Iran could otherwise divert some of its LEU and further enrich it to the much higher levels of purity required to make an atomic bomb. Iran insists it nuclear programme is aimed solely at generating electricity. We do not want to give part of our 1,200 kilos of enriched uranium in order to receive fuel of 20 percent enrichment, Borujerdi told ISNA on Saturday. This option of giving our enriched uranium gradually or in one go is over now, he said. On Sunday he was quoted, however, as saying that Irans Supreme National Security Council would take the final decision on the issue. The government newspaper Iran meanwhile carried a report Sunday in which it quoted experts as saying that some of Irans enriched uranium could be stored within the borders of the Islamic republic under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) during the fuel exchange process. Some experts affirm that while waiting for 20pc fuel to be made (by a third country), Iranian uranium (enriched at 3.5pc) be stored inside Iran under IAEA control before being sent abroad, the Paper said. It quoted the unnamed experts as saying that Iran needs 116 kilos of uranium enriched at 20pc (for its Tehran reactor) and to match that quantity, 800 kilos of uranium enriched at 3.5pc are needed and could be shipped abroad in two phases. The newspaper said such a deal could allay the concerns of the various parties. A first shipment of 60 kilos of uranium enriched at 20pc could be sent to Iran, which will deliver simultaneously 400 kilos of uranium enriched at 3.5pc, the report said. An extra 400 kilos of uranium enriched at 3.5pc would be shipped abroad 15 months later in exchange for 60 kilos of fuel, in line with the IAEA proposals, the newspaper added.

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