Incentives package includes major concession to Iran
A package of incentives presented to Iran includes a major concession by Washington – an offer to join key European nations in providing some nuclear technology to Tehran if it stops enriching uranium, diplomats said.
The offer was part of a series of potential rewards presented to Tehran yesterday by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, according to the diplomats, who were familiar with the proposals and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were disclosing confidential details.
The incentives agreed on last week by the US, Britain, France, China and Russia – the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council - plus Germany, also include European offers of help in building nuclear reactors for a peaceful energy programme, the diplomats said.
That European offer of light water reactors meant for civilian nuclear energy purposes was revealed last month, but there had been no suggestion the Americans would join in and also agree to help build Iran’s civilian nuclear program if Tehran freezes enrichment and agrees to negotiations.
Diplomats said on Monday that the US had agreed to provide Boeing aircraft parts for Iran’s ageing civilian fleet. Last week, Washington broke with decades of official policy of no high-level diplomatic contacts with Tehran, announcing it was ready to join in multi-nation talks with the Islamic republic over its nuclear program.
One of the diplomats described the US nuclear offer as particularly significant because it would in effect loosen a decades-long American embargo on giving Iran access to ”dual use” technologies – equipment and know-how that has both civilian and military applications.
John Wolfsthal, a non-proliferation analyst at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said any such offer would be tied to strict monitoring conditions.
“Underlying anything the US and Europeans are offering is that Iran has to be fully compliant in terms of inspectors on site, cameras and tracking equipment,” Wolfsthal said. “All that is standard operating procedure with countries with light water reactors.”
Both diplomats said Solana withheld the other part of the package – a series of measures meant to penalise Tehran if it does not relinquish enrichment, which can generate power but also can be used to make weapons-grade uranium for the core of nuclear warheads.
Those possible penalties include UN Security Council sanctions such as travel bans on Iranian government figures and a freeze of their foreign assets. In a bow to Russia and China, they contain no threat of military action, diplomats have said.
Iranian reaction to the rewards part of the package appeared positive. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told his Japanese counterpart, Taro Aso, that Tehran would ”seriously study” the incentives.
In Tehran, chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani described the incentives presented by Solana as containing both ”positive steps” and “ambiguities”.
Iran has so far vehemently rejected any halt to its enrichment programme, saying it has the right to carry out the process for peaceful purposes under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
World powers are suspicious of Iran’s nuclear plans because it concealed significant aspects of its program for nearly two decades. The US and its closest Western allies accuse Iran of seeking to build nuclear bombs. Iran says it is aiming strictly to generate electricity.
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