Iran Hints at Cooperation on U.N. Nuclear Deal
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BEIRUT, Lebanon — After days of uncertain signals, the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, hinted Thursday that Iran would accept a United Nations-sponsored plan to send the country’s uranium abroad for processing, saying “we welcome cooperation on nuclear fuel, power plants, and technology, and we are ready to cooperate.”
But it remained unclear whether Iran would insist on shipping the material in installments, which would undercut the intent of the plan: to leave Iran without enough nuclear material to build a weapon for at least a year, time in which the West would work toward an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Mr. Ahmadinejad’s comments, broadcast on state television, came as Iran prepared to deliver a formal response to the plan, which was designed to bridge the gap between Iran’s insistence that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes and the West’s suspicion that it is building a bomb.
Iran’s state-run Al Alam Arabic-language television station reported Thursday that Tehran had delivered its formal response to the proposal to the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. But officials there said they could not immediately confirm the report. Earlier this week, Iran said it would respond to the plan by Friday.
Speaking in the northeastern city of Mashad, Mr. Ahmadinejad did not address the possibility that Iran might seek changes to the agreement, which was crafted by Iranian and Western negotiators last week during talks in Vienna. His remarks seemed to extend Iran’s two-track public position on the nuclear dispute, offering a degree of compliance with one hand while insisting on the other that there were limits to its readiness for cooperation.
“Fortunately, the conditions for international nuclear cooperation have been met,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said. "We are currently moving in the right direction and we have no fear of legal cooperation, under which all of Iran’s national rights will be preserved, and we will continue our work."
He also insisted, as he often has, that Iran would not retreat from its rights to nuclear power. “As long as this government is in power, it will not retreat one iota on the undeniable rights of the Iranian nation.”
end of excerpt
Source: NYTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/world/middleeast/30nuke.html
But it remained unclear whether Iran would insist on shipping the material in installments, which would undercut the intent of the plan: to leave Iran without enough nuclear material to build a weapon for at least a year, time in which the West would work toward an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Mr. Ahmadinejad’s comments, broadcast on state television, came as Iran prepared to deliver a formal response to the plan, which was designed to bridge the gap between Iran’s insistence that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes and the West’s suspicion that it is building a bomb.
Iran’s state-run Al Alam Arabic-language television station reported Thursday that Tehran had delivered its formal response to the proposal to the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. But officials there said they could not immediately confirm the report. Earlier this week, Iran said it would respond to the plan by Friday.
Speaking in the northeastern city of Mashad, Mr. Ahmadinejad did not address the possibility that Iran might seek changes to the agreement, which was crafted by Iranian and Western negotiators last week during talks in Vienna. His remarks seemed to extend Iran’s two-track public position on the nuclear dispute, offering a degree of compliance with one hand while insisting on the other that there were limits to its readiness for cooperation.
“Fortunately, the conditions for international nuclear cooperation have been met,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said. "We are currently moving in the right direction and we have no fear of legal cooperation, under which all of Iran’s national rights will be preserved, and we will continue our work."
He also insisted, as he often has, that Iran would not retreat from its rights to nuclear power. “As long as this government is in power, it will not retreat one iota on the undeniable rights of the Iranian nation.”
end of excerpt
Source: NYTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/world/middleeast/30nuke.html
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