Moscow, October 26: Russia has urged world powers to ‘patiently wait’ for Iran to consider and respond to an IAEA-drafted proposal on a third-party nuclear fuel supply.
In a Monday interview with the Vremya Novostei, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Western countries, for starters, should stop accusing the Tehran government of wasting time.
“We should not give the impression that everything has stayed as it was,” he noted. “On the contrary, we need to give the Iranians positive stimuli.”
“And will it be possible to do this if it is presumed that the Iranians are wasting time?” he asked.
Ryabkov said the IAEA draft deal, which was sent to Iran, Russia, the United States and France on Wednesday, has helped “cool down emotions” and hence provided an upbeat forecast for future meetings.
The Tehran research reactor, which supplies medical isotopes for treating cancer to more than 200 hospitals in Iran, requires uranium enriched up to 20 percent.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced on Monday that Tehran will soon express its views about the deal.
“We may give money to supply the fuel as we did in the past or we may deliver part of the fuel that we currently possess but we do not need,” Mottaki said.
Ryabcov urged European powers to focus on the significant progress that has been made in discussions between Iranian diplomats and representatives of the P5+1 (the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany).
—–Agencies