Iran hedges on draft nuclear deal

updated 7:40 p.m. ET Oct. 29, 2009

VIENNA - Iran's president pledged Thursday to work with the West to resolve a standoff over its nuclear program even as his country reportedly balked at a U.S.-backed deal to limit its uranium enrichment and curb its ability to make a nuclear warhead.

A Western diplomat said Iran rejected a plan to export most of its enriched uranium, offering instead to process it under U.N. supervision.

The disconnect between the words of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Tehran's decision, as related by the diplomat, reflected the difficulties facing international negotiators trying to persuade Iran to give up enrichment — an activity that could be used to create fissile warhead material.

Iran was considering a plan proposed last week by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei at talks involving Iran, the U.S., Russia and France. A negotiator told The Associated Press that the draft would commit Iran to delivering 70 percent of its low-enriched uranium to Russia in one shipment for further enrichment and conversion into fuel for a Tehran research reactor.

Sending that amount in one batch would not leave Tehran with enough material to make weapons-grade uranium should it decide to make a warhead. Experts say Iran would need at least a year to produce enough to make up for the exported material, giving the international community a window in its efforts to persuade the Islamic Republic to freeze its enrichment program.

According to the Western diplomat familiar with the reply, the Islamic Republic rejected the main thrust of the offer — shipping out most of its stockpile — and was instead proposing to further enrich it inside Iran under IAEA supervision.

Waiting clarification
The U.N. nuclear watchdog gave few details aside from saying Iran had provided an "initial response" to the draft.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the U.S. needs "further clarification and I think it's also fair to say that we need a formal response from Iran."

On Thursday, the state-run newspaper Iran cited lawmakers as saying Tehran was seeking significant changes in the plan; sending the low-enriched uranium gradually rather than all in one shipment, each batch handed over only after Iran receives a delivery of reactor-ready fuel rods.

Other state media also have raised the prospect of a gradual handover, of shipping out a smaller amount of uranium than outlined in the U.N. plan — or of not shipping any at all and buying what the country requires from abroad.

None of those approaches would be acceptable to the West because they all would leave Iran with enough material to produce a nuclear weapon.

Enrichment at home
The Tehran research reactor needs fuel enriched to just under 20 percent — far from the 90 percent and above needed to make the fissile core of a nuclear weapon. Iran's stockpile is low-enriched uranium enriched to around 3 percent, suitable only for nuclear fuel.

But the higher the level of enrichment, the easier it is to reach weapons-grade level. Such a proposal outlined by the diplomat is unlikely to be endorsed by the U.S. and its allies, which would see it as bringing Tehran closer to nuclear weapons capacity instead of reducing such a threat.

"They don't want the LEU taken out," said the diplomat, referring to low-enriched uranium. "They want to enrich it there (in Iran) under IAEA supervision."

The diplomat also suggested the Iranians were eager for further one-on-one talks with the U.S. after Washington this month broke with nearly three decades of policy of not negotiating formally and directly with Tehran.

"They want the U.S. at the table to talk about how (the Americans) might be able to provide physical support for their (research) reactor to ensure there are no accidents," said the diplomat.

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