Aresu Eqbali
Agence France Presse
TEHRAN: Russia’s envoy to Tehran on Sunday urged Iran to sign on to a UN-drafted nuclear fuel deal in a bid to resolve the controversy over its atomic drive, which he said lacks “complete transparency.” Alexander Sadovnikov’s comments came a day after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Tehran that world powers had limited patience as the Islamic Republic dilly-dallied over offering a categorical response to the proposal.
“This is not to trick Iran in order to take its low-enriched uranium out of its hands,” Sadovnikov, Moscow’s ambassador to Tehran, said in an interview with the official IRNA news agency.
“We believe that reaching this agreement and signing the technical contract to produce fuel for the Tehran reactor is beneficial to Iran and will help in resolving the nuclear issue,” he added.
The deal if approved will see Iran’s low-enriched uranium (LEU) sent to Moscow for further enrichment and conversion into fuel, whereafter it will be returned for use in the Tehran reactor which is monitored constantly by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
But the proposed agreement has been facing stiff opposition from top Iranian officials who say it is a Western sleight of hand aimed at getting the Islamic Republic to suspend its uranium enrichment work.
Western powers led by Washington suspect Iran’s uranium enrichment drive is aimed at making weapons, a charge strongly denied by Tehran.
Sadovnikov said Tehran’s nuclear controversy lacks “complete transparency” and must be quickly resolved, but added any more sanctions against Iran to halt the galloping atomic program was not the right approach.
“We agree with the opinion of our partners in the group of six who believe that Iran’s nuclear program, especially in some issues related to its past nuclear activities, lacks complete transparency,” Sadovnikov said.
Russia, and five other world powers – Great Britain, France, China, Germany and the United States – are engaged in high-profile talks with Tehran in order to allay concerns over its atomic program.
US President Barack Obama, angry after Tehran recently disclosed it was building a second uranium enrichment facility, has indicated that if Iran does not come clean on its nuclear program it could face a new round of sanctions.
Russia, however, “believes that negotiations must be approached from a calculated position without threats and scare,” Sadovnikov said.
“As Russian officials have repeatedly said, threats and sanctions will only complicate the situation and lead to a dead end,” he added.
However, Moscow has recently said that sometimes sanctions are “inevitable.”
The six world powers and Tehran are expected to meet in few weeks, after the first round of talk held in Geneva on October 1.
The Geneva talks were followed by a specific round of discussions in Vienna between Russia, France and the United States, where the fuel deal was drafted by the IAEA.
Iran has asked for more talks on the fuel deal, while its Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday that technical experts of world powers too felt a need for a “new round of talks” on issues raised by Tehran.
Meanwhile Iranian opposition to sending Tehran’s LEU abroad mounted on Sunday.
“Any pre-condition to deliver the fuel to Iran is unacceptable and any talk of sending our uranium must happen after receiving the fuel,” Iranian Parliament deputy Speaker Abu Torabi told ISNA news agency.
Iran’s judiciary chief Sadeq Larijani also voiced opposition to the transfer of LEU.
“It is not in the interests of the country and according to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) the developed countries have to deliver us the fuel,” he told ISNA.
Israel – Middle East’s sole if undeclared nuclear state – has said the fuel deal is a “positive step” in stopping Tehran’s nuclear drive.
Iran police to confront ‘illegal’ November 4 rallies
TEHRAN: Iranian police will confront any “illegal” gatherings on November 4, when the Islamic Republic marks the 30th anniversary of the seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran, a semi-official news agency reported on Sunday.
Mehr News Agency reported the warning by deputy police chief Ahmadreza Radan a day after opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi appeared to urge supporters to take part in rallies on that day.
In a statement posted on his www.kaleme.com website, Mousavi said he would press ahead with his efforts for political change in Iran following a disputed June presidential election, which he says was rigged in favor of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Opposition supporters clashed with police and government backers on September 18, at the annual demonstrations in support of the Palestinians.
“The duty of the police is to protect public order, and based on the law we are obliged to prevent any move disturbing the public order,” Radan said.
An Iranian MP, Hasan Malek-Mohammadi, also issued a warning to the opposition, IRNA news agency reported.
“Those individuals and groups that act against the revolution’s pillars and the views [of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei], will be considered as Mohareb [fighting against God] and corrupt on earth,” said Malek-Mohammadi, referring to a crime which could be punishable by death in Iran.
“On this day, political groups … should act in line with the country’s national interests,” he said.
Anti-Western rallies usually take place outside the old US Embassy to mark the day in 1979 when radical students scaled its walls and took 52 Americans hostage, holding them for 444 days. Washington cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in 1980.
Some reformist websites have called on people to gather outside the Russian Embassy instead, in an apparent protest at Moscow’s swift recognition of Ahmadinejad’s election victory.
Iranian security officials have ordered the opposition not to hold demonstrations on that day.
Apart from sporadic incidents, the streets of Tehran have returned to normal since June’s disputed election, which sparked Iran’s worst street unrest since the Islamic revolution three decades ago.
The elite Revolutionary Guards and an allied Islamic militia quelled the huge opposition protests that erupted in the days after the vote and thousands of people were arrested.
Most of the detainees have since been released, but more than 100 senior reformers, activists, journalists and others have been put on trial, accused of fomenting street unrest. The opposition has denounced the court sessions as “show trials.”
The authorities have portrayed the demonstrations as a foreign-backed bid to undermine the Islamic state and reject charges of vote rigging.
The opposition says more than 70 people were killed in the post-election violence. Officials say the death toll was half that and members of the security forces were among the victims. – Reuters
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