"You can't be just a little pregnant."
Russia's latest uranium enrichment offer to Iran, which is designed to avoid UN Security Council intervention, is raising some eyebrows. It seems that some are surprised by the new terms being offered. Reuters reports:
"Russia has circulated a proposal to the (EU and U.S.) capitals that would let Iran conduct limited enrichment research if it suspends industrial-scale efforts for 7 to 9 years," said a diplomat from one of the three EU powers.
He said the plan, still exploratory and only verbal, would also require Tehran to ratify a protocol allowing snap IAEA inspections of its atomic sites and accept a joint venture under which Russia would supply Tehran with low-enriched uranium.
"Two to three years of the industrial-scale moratorium would support IAEA investigations in Iran and 5 to 6 years more would be to rebuild international confidence," said the diplomat, who like others asked not to be named.
He said Russian diplomats were expected to meet experts in the IAEA's secretariat later this week to get a technical assessment as to what level of nuclear research in Iran could be "safe" from the risk of diversion into a military program.
The State Department, however, doesn't trust the offer:
"You can't be just a little pregnant," said U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey when asked about Moscow's move.
"You can't have the regime pursuing enrichment on any scale, because pursuing (that) allows them to master the technology, complete the fuel cycle -- and then that technology can easily be applied to a clandestine program for making nuclear weapons."
A senior official close to the IAEA, who asked not be named, said that trying to differentiate between research work and productive enrichment was like "trying to draw a line in water."
This has been going on for months now. Back and forth the Iranians and Russians go, all the while delaying any accountability. The latest offer is a significant step down from the original one, which allowed the Iranians to enrich uranium on Russian soil only. To say that I have been skeptical throughout would be an understatement. This whole affair smelled like a delay tactic to me back in January and that suspicion has only gotten stronger.
I'll ask it again: In Putin we trust?
Daniel McKivergan has more here.
"Russia has circulated a proposal to the (EU and U.S.) capitals that would let Iran conduct limited enrichment research if it suspends industrial-scale efforts for 7 to 9 years," said a diplomat from one of the three EU powers.
He said the plan, still exploratory and only verbal, would also require Tehran to ratify a protocol allowing snap IAEA inspections of its atomic sites and accept a joint venture under which Russia would supply Tehran with low-enriched uranium.
"Two to three years of the industrial-scale moratorium would support IAEA investigations in Iran and 5 to 6 years more would be to rebuild international confidence," said the diplomat, who like others asked not to be named.
He said Russian diplomats were expected to meet experts in the IAEA's secretariat later this week to get a technical assessment as to what level of nuclear research in Iran could be "safe" from the risk of diversion into a military program.
The State Department, however, doesn't trust the offer:
"You can't be just a little pregnant," said U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey when asked about Moscow's move.
"You can't have the regime pursuing enrichment on any scale, because pursuing (that) allows them to master the technology, complete the fuel cycle -- and then that technology can easily be applied to a clandestine program for making nuclear weapons."
A senior official close to the IAEA, who asked not be named, said that trying to differentiate between research work and productive enrichment was like "trying to draw a line in water."
This has been going on for months now. Back and forth the Iranians and Russians go, all the while delaying any accountability. The latest offer is a significant step down from the original one, which allowed the Iranians to enrich uranium on Russian soil only. To say that I have been skeptical throughout would be an understatement. This whole affair smelled like a delay tactic to me back in January and that suspicion has only gotten stronger.
I'll ask it again: In Putin we trust?
Daniel McKivergan has more here.
posted by Thomas Joscelyn at 9:46 AM
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