U.S. Not Convinced by Iranian Nuclear Arrangement
Washington - The United States will continue to work with its partners and the U.N. Security Council to convince the Iranian regime that it must show its willingness to live up to international obligations and forgo a nuclear weapons development program, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says.
The Iranian regime announced May 17 that it has agreed to an arrangement negotiated by Turkey and Brazil to ship 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of low-enriched uranium to Turkey, where it would be stored. In exchange, after one year, Iran would have the right to receive about 120.2 kilograms (265 pounds) of material enriched to 20 percent from Russia and France.
"Given Iran's repeated failure to live up to its own commitments and the need to address fundamental issues related to Iran's nuclear program, the United States and international community continue to have serious concerns," Gibbs said May 17 in a written statement ( http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2010/May/20100517145936xjsnommis0.8845484.html ) to the news media.
Before the international community can consider the Tehran proposal, it must be sent to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna for evaluation, Gibbs said. It is unlikely the IAEA would issue a statement until after it has received a joint declaration from Tehran.
"While it would be a positive step for Iran to transfer low-enriched uranium off of its soil as it agreed to do last October, Iran said today that it would continue its 20 percent enrichment, which is a direct violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions," Gibbs said.
"Furthermore, the joint declaration issued in Tehran is vague about Iran's willingness to meet with the P5+1 countries to address international concerns about its nuclear program, as it also agreed to do last October," Gibbs added. The P5+1 countries include the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States - plus Germany.
Iranian officials have claimed that the enriched uranium would be used for peaceful purposes, including a medical research reactor in Tehran. It is not clear why continuing to enrich uranium in Iran would be necessary under the arrangement agreed to May 17.
The United States and its partners in the six-nation talks with Iran have been considering a fourth set of political and economic sanctions through the Security Council, after Iran did not comply with an October 2009 arrangement that mirrors the agreement announced May 17 in Tehran.
In the original arrangement in October, Iran agreed to ship about 1,200 kilograms of uranium to Russia, which represented about two-thirds of its total stockpile of nuclear fuel at the time. The nuclear material would be processed to 20 percent enrichment in Russia, then shipped to Paris where it could be turned into fuel rods for use in the Tehran medical reactor. That agreement, reached in Geneva, eventually collapsed under intense political pressure from within Iran.
Western officials have said that in the interim, Iran has continued to process uranium and the 1,200 kilograms no longer represents two-thirds of its stockpile, raising new concerns about the motives behind this latest agreement.
"Iran must take the steps necessary to assure the international community that its nuclear program is intended exclusively for peaceful purposes, including by complying with U.N. Security Council resolutions and cooperating fully with the IAEA," Gibbs said. "We remain committed to a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear program."
