Iran, Russia to Hold Crucial Nuclear Talks

By Henry Meyer 
February 20, 2006
Forbes.com
Original Source: http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/ap/2006/02/20/ap2538767.html


MOSCOW Feb 20, 2006 (AP)— An Iranian delegation arrived in Moscow on Monday for talks on a Russian offer to conduct uranium enrichment for Iran, in what is seen as a final opportunity for the Islamic regime to avoid international sanctions over Western concerns it is developing nuclear weapons. 
The top Iranian negotiator, Ali Hosseinitash, deputy secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said he believed an agreement was possible. He cautioned, however, against linking the Russian plan to demands for Iran to restore a freeze on uranium enrichment, Russian news agencies reported. 
The negotiations with Russia do not foresee any preconditions, Hosseinitash said, according to ITAR-Tass. He added that there was no link between the moratorium on uranium enrichment and talks on the Russian plan. 
In a sign of possible compromise, Iran's foreign minister, who was to hold talks in Brussels with European officials on Monday, said that Tehran was interested in a wide-ranging Russian proposal on uranium enrichment. 
If the Russian plan, with supplementary indicators, leads to a comprehensive proposal, then we could say it will have Iran's interest, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Sunday. 
But the Iranians have blown hot and cold over the proposal, under which Iran's enrichment activities would take place on Russian soil to ensure no uranium is diverted for nuclear weapons. Enrichment is a process that can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or material for a warhead. 
Iran maintains its nuclear program is purely for energy needs but Western nations accuse it of pursuing a secret atomic weapons drive that would upset the balance of power in the Middle East. The U.N nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is to hold a meeting on March 6 which could start a process leading to U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran. 
Analysts warned against expecting an outcome Monday, saying a concrete result would more likely emerge from further talks when the head of Russia's atomic energy agency, Sergei Kiriyenko, visits Iran on Thursday. 
Experts have said Iran would like its scientists to have access to the Russian enrichment facility and hope to retain the right to conduct some part of the enrichment process at home. 
But Former Russian Atomic Energy Minister Viktor Mikhailov told the Vremya Novostei daily in comments published on Monday that the entire facility would be off-limits. 
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said last week that the Russian proposal is conditional on Iran giving up all enrichment activity, including small-scale efforts it started last week. The European Union and the United States insist that Tehran re-impose a freeze on all enrichment, as well. 
But IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei has recently suggested that the international community might have no choice but to accept small-scale enrichment on Iranian soil as a condition for Tehran to agree to move its full program abroad, a diplomat familiar with ElBaradei's position said Sunday. 
The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. 
For Russia, this week's talks are an opportunity to stave off the threat of action against a country where it has strong interests it is building Iran's first nuclear power station and win prestige by helping find a solution to a conflict in which it was long seen as part of the problem. 
But the price would be high for Iran, at least in terms of pride: Giving up enrichment efforts at home, even temporarily, goes against its leaders' adamant insistence on their right to conduct the process as part of their energy program.