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Ball in the Iranian court: ElBaradei

DUBAI: Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei has called upon Iran to avoid becoming a deal-breaker and permanently liberate itself from the threat of sanctions posed by the global powers.

“It is a unique opportunity to move from sanctions and confrontation to the process of building... trust,” said Mr. ElBaradei, who relinquishes office on December 1, in Berlin. The IAEA chief was referring to the draft agreement that he had issued last month in Vienna to Iran and its three interlocutors, the United States, Russia and France. The IAEA proposal envisaged the transfer of bulk of Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium to Russia for enrichment to around 20 per cent.

Russia in turn would send the material to France for fabrication into metal fuel rods for use in a Tehran reactor engaged in producing medical isotopes to fight cancer.

“I believe frankly the ball is very much in the Iranian court,” Mr. ElBaradei observed. “I hope they will not miss this unique but fleeting opportunity.”

As Mr. ElBaradei spoke, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany were meeting in Brussels. They were to consider their possible response to the latest position adopted by Iran that the nuclear swap covering the supply of fuel for the Tehran reactor and its own locally enriched uranium would take place on Iranian soil. “We certainly would not send out our 3.5 per cent enriched uranium,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had said in remarks quoted by the semi-official ISNA news agency.

The meeting in Brussels follows observations by U.S. President Barack Obama that world powers could have a package of measures against Iran “within weeks”.

Notwithstanding Mr. Obama’s remarks, divisions among global powers on imposition of fresh sanctions against Tehran were evident. Russia has been quick to point out that a final response from Iran on the IAEA proposal is still awaited. “As far as we know, there has so far been no final official answer from Tehran,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko in a statement. “There is currently no discussion on working out additional sanctions against Iran.”

China has emphasised persistence with a dialogue with Iran. “To appropriately resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiations is very important to stability in the Middle East [West Asia],” Chinese President Hu Jintao had said following talks with Mr. Obama, during the latter’s recent visit to China.

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