Iran ready for new nuclear talks 'as soon as possible': envoy
Agence France-Presse | 11/02/2009 10:13 PM
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VIENNA - Iran is ready for new talks on a uranium enrichment deal "as soon as possible", the Islamic Republic's ambassdor to the UN nuclear watchdog in Vienna told AFP Monday.
"We are ready for the next round of technical discussions. Such a meeting could be held as soon as possible in Vienna," said Tehran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh.
Last month, the IAEA hosted two and a half days of talks between Iran, France, Russia and the United States on an arrangement to supply enriched uranium as fuel for a research reactor in Tehran.
Under the terms of the proposal, Iran would ship out most of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) for further refinement by Russia. France would then fashion the material into the fuel rods needed for the reactor.
Moscow, Paris and Washington all quickly gave their approval to the plans, but Tehran still has not delivered its final verdict.
Soltanieh said that the talks in Vienna on October 19-21 had been "a constructive preliminary technical discussion".
However, from Iran's point of view, a number of "technical concerns" still had to be considered, most importantly "the issue of guarantee for the supply of the fuel."
Twenty years ago, Iran had signed contracts regarding the purchase of the fuel for the same reactor, but not received it, Soltanieh said.
"The core issue, the crux of the matter, is the assurance and guarantee of the supply of the fuel, bearing in mind the past confidence deficits where we did not receive fuel for the same reactor which we had paid for," the ambassador explained.
Asked whether his comments meant that Iran preferred to buy the fuel abroad rather than use its own stockpile of low-enriched uranium, Soltanieh replied:
"We expect that like any other country, we will be able to buy and pay for it without any other condition, under the full scope of IAEA safeguards.
"We are ready to buy the fuel from any supplier under the full surveillance of the IAEA," the envoy said.
Asked whether the next round of talks could take place this week, Soltanieh refused to be pinned down.
"We are ready to sit down together in another technical discussion under the auspices of IAEA in Vienna as soon as is possible. We are ready for it."
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