Iran delays reopening of nuclear plant
Iran pushed back plans to restart some nuclear activities today after calls from the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog agency to wait until a monitoring system is in place.
Iran has said it will resume uranium conversion at its plant in Isfahan, sparking harsh criticism from the European Union, the US and others.
Tehran initially said the plant would reopen today, but the country’s chief nuclear negotiator, Hasan Rowhani, later told Iranian state television the work would restart “early next week” to accommodate a request from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.
The IAEA had urged the country not to resume operations at the plant until a surveillance system had been installed to allow the agency to monitor nuclear material.
The agency’s inspectors in Isfahan would only begin “preparing for a restart of the conversion facility once the surveillance equipment has arrived,” spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said earlier today.
“We have made it clear that we need until the middle of next week to get our surveillance equipment in place,” she said.
Iran had agreed with representatives from Britain, Germany and France to freeze uranium conversion and related activities until negotiations about the future of Iran’s nuclear programme were finished. The country invited the IAEA to verify the suspension beginning in November last year.
Uranium conversion produces uranium gas, the feedstock for uranium enrichment. Highly enriched uranium can be used to make weapons while uranium enriched to lower levels is used to produce energy.
Washington accuses Iran of trying to produce nuclear weapons, but Tehran insists its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.
France, Britain and Germany have said they plan to seek an emergency meeting of the IAEA board in coming days if Iran goes through with its plans. The board can report countries to the UN Security Council, which in turn can impose sanctions.
The foreign ministers of the three countries and Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, sent a letter to Tehran authorities on Tuesday, urging Iran to refrain from resuming conversion. The letter said EU negotiators would soon present a proposal with incentives offered in return for Iran dropping its uranium enrichment programme and related activities.
In comments to the Hannover Neue Presse daily, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said he expected the European proposal to lead to a peaceful resolution of the issue.
“I hope very much that the recommendations of the European negotiators will lead to an amicable solution,” Schroeder said. “I hope very much that in the end rationality will come through.”
