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Last update - 06:58 03/11/2009
Clinton says nuclear proposal to Iran `will not change`
By News Agencies
Tags: Iran nuclear, Ahmadinejad 

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday urged Iran to accept the six-powers proposal on its nuclear program, saying the offer would not be changed.

"We urge Iran to accept the agreement as proposed. We are not changing it," Clinton told a news conference in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, adding that this was a "pivotal moment" for Tehran.

Earlier Monday, the outgoing head of the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran should reply as soon as possible to a proposal for an uranium-exchange deal with the United States, Russia and France.
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Mohamed ElBaradei, who will leave the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna later this month, said the deal is part of measures to build confidence and trust for future dialogue between Iran and the international community.

ElBaradei said the Tehran government, which admitted concealing materials and activities that violated nuclear safeguards six years ago, has not come forward with explanations to allay fears of its future nuclear ambitions.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also urged the Iranian leaders to accept the proposition by the IAEA proposed last month, in which Iran will not enrich it's own uranium, bet rather purchase enriched uranium for energy production from Russia, France and the U.S.

"We are waiting for Iran to formally accept the proposition made by the (UN atomic agency) IAEA. If the Iranian response is to stall, as it seems to be, we will not accept this," Koushner told reporters on Monday.

Meanwhile, Tehran's envoy to the IAEA said on Monday that Iran wants more talks on a United Nations-drafted nuclear proposal, including guarantees that it will receive the reactor fuel.

Iran has signalled that it wants fundamental changes to the draft deal, in which it would send most of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad for further processing to turn it into more refined fuel for a Tehran research reactor.

The plan, backed by the other participants - Russia, France and the United States - aims to reduce Iran's LEU stockpile below the minimum quantity that could be turned into the highly enriched uranium needed for a nuclear bomb.

Western diplomats say Iran has also asked to receive fuel for the Tehran reactor before shipping out any of its own low-enriched uranium.

They say the Iranian demands are unacceptable because the deal in this form would not lessen Iran's capacity to build an atomic weapon if it chose to do so, something Israel and the West fears.

If Iran accepts the UN-backed plan, it would not be able to replenish its stockpile to levels that would again yield enough enriched uranium for further enrichment into weapons-grade material for about a year.

Since its clandestine enrichment program was revealed seven years ago, Iran has amassed more than 1,500 kilograms of low-enriched uranium at its cavernous underground facility at Natanz.

It is relatively simple to turn fuel-grade uranium into weapons-grade material. The West fears Tehran wants to do just that although President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government says it is not interested in nuclear arms and wants only to create fuel for a planned network of reactors.

But it will take decades before the network is in place, meaning Iran has no immediate use for the enriched uranium it has accumulated. This has led many in the West to wonder why it wants to have the stockpile now if not for other purposes.

Iranian Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh said Monday that more talks were needed, "in order to ensure that our technical concerns and especially the issue of the guarantee of the fuel supply are taken into consideration."

"We are ready for the next round of technical discussions in Vienna at the IAEA headquarters," he said, adding that the IAEA should now arrange a suitable date.

Soltanieh gave the IAEA Iran's initial response to the draft deal on Friday after talks in Vienna on Oct. 19-21 with the three big powers.

"We are ready to buy the fuel from any supplier under the full scope of safeguards and surveillance of the IAEA," Soltanieh said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki stressed Monday that the Islamic Republic has not rejected the plan.

"We have considered these proposals. We have some technical and economic considerations on that. Two days ago, we passed our views and observations to the IAEA, so it is very much possible to establish a technical commission in order to review and reconsider all these issues," Mottaki said.

Mottaki said Iran has three options to procure fuel for its reactor, which was launched 40 years ago. The first is to buy the fuel from other countries, the second is to enrich the uranium domestically and the third is to accept the UN-brokered plan, he said.

Tehran says it will ship out a small amount of uranium and wait until it comes back in the form of fuel rods before exporting the next small batch. But this proposal has been rejected by the U.S. and its allies, as it would leave Tehran with enough material to turn into a fissile core of a nuclear warhead.

Asked about Clinton's comments that Western powers are getting impatient with Iran over the nuclear deal, Mottaki replied: "Really?"


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