US, France, Russia unhappy with Iran fuel deal proposal
Thursday, 10 June 2010
VIENNA, June 9 (AFP): The United States (US), France and Russia seemed to reject Wednesday Iran's proposals for a nuclear fuel swap, saying it did not build enough confidence about the peaceful nature of Tehran's atomic programme.
The three powers -- known as the Vienna group -- handed their views on the deal here to International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano just hours before world powers were set to slap new sanctions on Iran.
The IAEA confirmed receipt of the three countries' responses but did not reveal the content of their letters.
Nevertheless, comments by Washington's envoy to the IAEA's closed-door session more or less set out the countries' concerns about the deal concluded with Brazil and Turkey.
Diplomats attending the meeting said France and Russia had expressed similar worries.
Iran's proposed arrangement for the supply of fuel for a research reactor in Tehran "provides no alternative means of ensuring that the confidence-building element of the arrangement would be maintained," US ambassador Glyn Davies told the IAEA's 35-member board of governors.
Under Iran's proposal, a total 1,200 kilogrammes (2,640 pounds) of LEU would be shipped out for treatment, around half of the Islamic republic's current stockpile of nuclear material.
Meanwhile, Internet report adds: Imposing fresh sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme would hurt the region's countries and contribute nothing to resolving the Mideast conflict, Turkey's ambassador to Cairo said Wednesday ahead of a UN Security Council vote on the matter.
Huseyin Avni Botsali told Egyptian newspaper El-Gomhuriah that the international community must draw the necessary lessons from the handling of Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein. According to him, the sanctions imposed against Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait did not pressure Hussein into cooperating with the UN's institutions and caused Turkey economic damage estimated at $50 billion.
The three powers -- known as the Vienna group -- handed their views on the deal here to International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano just hours before world powers were set to slap new sanctions on Iran.
The IAEA confirmed receipt of the three countries' responses but did not reveal the content of their letters.
Nevertheless, comments by Washington's envoy to the IAEA's closed-door session more or less set out the countries' concerns about the deal concluded with Brazil and Turkey.
Diplomats attending the meeting said France and Russia had expressed similar worries.
Iran's proposed arrangement for the supply of fuel for a research reactor in Tehran "provides no alternative means of ensuring that the confidence-building element of the arrangement would be maintained," US ambassador Glyn Davies told the IAEA's 35-member board of governors.
Under Iran's proposal, a total 1,200 kilogrammes (2,640 pounds) of LEU would be shipped out for treatment, around half of the Islamic republic's current stockpile of nuclear material.
Meanwhile, Internet report adds: Imposing fresh sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme would hurt the region's countries and contribute nothing to resolving the Mideast conflict, Turkey's ambassador to Cairo said Wednesday ahead of a UN Security Council vote on the matter.
Huseyin Avni Botsali told Egyptian newspaper El-Gomhuriah that the international community must draw the necessary lessons from the handling of Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein. According to him, the sanctions imposed against Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait did not pressure Hussein into cooperating with the UN's institutions and caused Turkey economic damage estimated at $50 billion.