Davos, January 30: The UN nuclear agency chief said on Friday dialogue was continuing on a draft deal on enriched uranium between Iran and world powers despite Tehran’s rejection of terms meant to prevent the material being used for atomic bombs.
Western diplomats have said Iran has effectively turned down the IAEA-brokered proposal and the United States and major European allies are pursuing broader UN sanctions against the Iran over its nuclear activity.
“The proposal is on the table. Dialogue is continuing,” said Yukiya Amano, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in his first remarks on the standoff since he succeeded Mohamed ElBaradei two months ago.
Amano, who was attending the World Economic Forum, left unclear whether “dialogue” meant the IAEA was actively exploring possible compromises with Iran and world powers. Western officials have stopped short of declaring the plan dead but said Tehran’s approach had not been serious.
Diplomats said last week Iran’s envoy to the IAEA had notified Amano that it could not accept the deal’s central provision for Tehran to ship most of its enriched uranium abroad in one go in exchange for fuel for nuclear medicine.
Russia and China have also called for more negotiations, opposing further punitive sanctions which they believe may hinder a peaceful solution, though Moscow on Friday showed signs of growing impatience.
Under the draft plan, Tehran would transfer 70 percent of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia for further processing and then to France for conversion into special fuel rods to keep a nuclear medicine reactor running.
The arrangement, which envisaged Iran getting the fuel about a year after parting with LEU, aimed to cut Iran’s LEU reserve below the quantity needed for the fissile core of a nuclear weapon, if the material were refined to a high degree of purity.
Western negotiators said Iran accepted the scheme in principle at Geneva talks with six world powers in October, only to back off after ElBaradei fleshed out details at a follow-up meeting at IAEA headquarters in Vienna.
Iranian officials have subsequently demanded amendments which would entail swapping its LEU for reactor fuel only in small, phased amounts and only on Iranian soil — to avoid a significant reduction in the LEU stockpile.
Tehran has also said it will enrich LEU to a higher degree itself if the powers do not accept its conditions for the deal, raising concerns since it lacks technology to turn the material into fuel rods for the medical isotope reactor.
——-Agencies