Iranian nuclear talks drag on
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Talks on Iran's nuclear future between the United States, Russia, France and Iran dragged on for the second day in Vienna on Tuesday, with Iran insisting on its nuclear rights and refusing to talk with France at the negotiating table.
"It is maybe slower than I expected, but we are moving forward," Mohammed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters Tuesday.
Under the auspices of the IAEA, representatives of the United States, Russia, France and Iran began internal consultations in Vienna on Monday regarding Iran and the potential purchase of nuclear fuel from Russia and France.
During the second day of negotiations, Iran insisted on its nuclear rights, which are against the original intention of the Western countries to provide higher-level enriched uranium for Tehran.
On Oct. 1 in Geneva, during the talks between Iran and a UN-backed group of six nations, namely Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, Iran agreed in principle to ship most of its existing low-grade enriched uranium to Russia and France, where it would be processed into fuel rods with a purity of 20 percent.
The enriched uranium would be transported back to Iran to be used in a research reactor for the manufacture of medical radioisotopes.
An IAEA survey found Iran had been able to produce enriched uranium with a purity of about 5 percent.
However, just before the Vienna meeting, Iranian spokesman Ali Shirzadian said Iran's agreement "to buy nuclear fuel from abroad does not mean that Iran would halt its uranium enrichment activities."
He added that Iran would start enriching its uranium up to the 20 percent level if talks in Vienna failed to provide Iran with the "desired results".
In addition, Iran also claimed that it did not want France to be part of any deal. The reason cited was France's failure to "abide by its own obligations in the past" regarding its nuclear cooperation with Iran, according to Iranian media.
It is said that the suspicions of Iran toward France probably went back to the failure of the two countries' cooperation on the French nuclear enterprise EURODIF in the 1970s, of which Iran possessed about 10 percent of shares but did not get any enriched uranium. EURODIF has halted cooperation with Iran since 1979.
Analysts also pointed out that another important reason for Iran's refusal to cooperate with France was that it had always focused on discussions with nuclear superpowers like the United States and Russia.
Moreover, France's position on imposing sanctions on Iran was another factor.
Nevertheless, ElBaradei assured that negotiations would continue on Wednesday "with all countries concerned," including France.
As scheduled, representatives of the four countries would discuss details on providing enriched uranium to Tehran, including time, quantity and security, although no official agreement is expected to be signed during those negotiations.
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