Iran Nixes Fuel Swap Plan
The New York Times reports:
At the talks between Iran and six major powers in Istanbul over the weekend, Iran said it was “no longer interested” in a fuel-swap deal proposed to it by Washington and the others, a senior Western diplomat said on Monday.
In Istanbul, the lead Western negotiator, Catherine Ashton, said only that her Iranian counterpart, Saeed Jalili, had refused to engage on the details of a revised offer to swap most of Iran’s low-enriched uranium for fuel rods to power a declining Tehran reactor that produces medical isotopes.
After she laid out the proposals, Ms. Ashton, the head of the delegation of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany, told journalists, “I made it clear that they should consider them and come back to us.” Asked if Mr. Jalili agreed to do so, she said that he listened, but “He didn’t say, ‘Oh, O.K., I will.”’
American officials briefing reporters also left Mr. Jalili’s response vague, saying that the proposals remained on the table and that the six powers were prepared to negotiate without preconditions.
But the senior Western diplomat, who would speak only anonymously, in keeping with diplomatic protocol, was more explicit, saying that Mr. Jalili told Ms. Ashton and the other powers that "Iran was no longer interested in the Tehran reactor,” because it had found its own source of uranium and could produce the fuel itself.
While Iran’s view may change, the Jalili statement in private to the group made it less likely that talks will resume any time soon, and it is likely to increase pressure on President Obama and others to ratchet up targeted sanctions against Iran while they see if Tehran changes its mind. Russia and China are likely to be reluctant to go for another round of United Nations sanctions just a few months after the last.
