Iran Inks LEU Deal With Turkey under Brazil’s Guarantees; Israel Infuriated

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17/05/2010 Tehran yesterday did not live a normal day. The pace of nuclear negotiations have accelerated after the arrival of the Turkish premier who have been a pioneer in trying to defuse tensions in the region over many issues but this time it was the Iranian nuclear program on his agenda along with Iran and Brazil presidents. Iran inked a nuclear fuel swap deal Monday under which 1,200 kilos of low enriched uranium will be shipped to Turkey under Brazilian guarantees, potentially ending a standoff with western powers gearing for new sanctions against Tehran and the “last shot” was successfully fired. The agreement, under which Iran will in turn receive nuclear fuel for a Tehran reactor, was signed in the Iranian capital between the foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey and Brazil. The signing came after three-way talks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ahmadinejad hoped world powers would enter talks with Tehran after the agreement was made, the state IRNA news agency reported. “I hope the 5+1 (UN Security Council permanent members plus Germany) enter talks with honesty, respect and fairness and heed the great work started in Tehran,” he said. Under the agreement “Turkey will be the place to keep Iran’s 3.5 percent (low enriched) uranium,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters. “One thousand two hundred kilos (of LEU) will be exchanged.” He added that Iran will officially notify the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the agreement “within a week.” “The IAEA should inform the Vienna group (United States, France and Russia) of this proposal,” he said of world powers which have wanted Iran since last October to accept a UN-backed deal to ship its enriched uranium abroad. “If the Vienna group accepts the agreement (made on Monday), there will be an exchange of 1,200 kilos of Iran’s 3.5 percent enriched uranium with 120 kilos of 20 percent enriched fuel,” Mehmanparast said. “The uranium stockpile in Turkey will be under Iran’s and the IAEA’s supervision,” he said. “We hope the other party accepts this proposal.” If world powers agree “Iran will ship its low enriched uranium during a period of one month to Turkey,” the spokesman said. Iran’s atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi urged world powers to sign on to the agreement, insisting “Iran has shown its good will by accepting the Brazilian and Turkish proposal. “From now on the ball is in the West’s court and the Vienna group (the United States, France and Russia) should give a suitable response to Iran’s offer of cooperation,” Salehi told the official IRNA news agency. Brazil’s president, in Iran for a summit of non-aligned countries, held talks on the nuclear issue with Iran’s leadership Sunday. Washington has called the Brazilian’s visit the “last shot” to avoid sanctions. At Iran’s invitation, Turkey’s Prime Minister arrived at around midnight Sunday to join Lula. Israel, which along with many Western powers have been struggling to sanction Iran under guise that it’s generating a nuclear bomb, immediately accused Tehran of “manipulating” Turkey and Brazil over the deal. “The Iranians have manipulated Turkey and Brazil in appearing to accept the enrichment of part of their uranium on Turkish soil,” a senior Israeli official in Tel Aviv told AFP on condition of anonymity. “The Iranians have already pulled off such a trick in the past — by pretending to accept such a procedure to lower tensions and reduce the risk of harsher international sanctions, then refusing to follow through,” he said. The official said the Iranian initiative was likely to “complicate issues” for world powers looking to rein in Iran’s nuclear program. “It is going to be much more difficult for the United States or the Europeans to reject this arrangement because it’s no longer just about Iran, which is a much easier situation to manage,” he said. But Turkey sees “no need” for further UN sanctions against Iran after this deal, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu told reporters. “This agreement should be regarded positively and there is no need for sanctions now that we (Turkey and Brazil) have made guarantees and the low enriched uranium will remain in Turkey,” he said. There was no immediate reaction from the IAEA, which had in its proposal suggested Iran send its uranium stockpile to Russia to be further enriched and then on to France to make nuclear fuel for a research reactor in Tehran. Iran had so far stalled on the deal, insisting it wants to keep the LEU on its own soil for a simultaneous swap with reactor fuel. Brazil and Turkey, both non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, have been leading efforts to end the standoff over the UN-backed deal. In response, the office of EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said that the fuel swap deal signed by Iran on Monday “does not answer all of the concerns”.”If this reported agreement delivers… of course we welcome such a move,” a spokesman for Ashton told AFP. “This is a move in the right direction but it does not answer all of the concerns raised over Iran’s nuclear programme,” he added. France said that the deal does not resolve the underlying dispute between Iran and the West. French Foreign Minister Bernard said that the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog must be the first body to respond to Iran’s agreement. Kouchner cautiously welcomed Iran’s agreement to send lightly enriched uranium to Turkey, but added that he had not seen the text of the accord. “It’s not up to us to respond, it’s up to the International Atomic Energy Agency,” Kouchner told AFP and Radio France Internationale. “Some important progress has been made over the past two days on the UN resolution,” at the Security Council, Kouchner added. “I am happy that there has been this accord” between Iran, Brazil and Turkey, he said before praising “our Turkish and Brazilian friends who showed tenacity” in their talks with Tehran. For its part, the German government said that nothing could replace a deal between Iran and the IAEA. “It of course remains important that Iran and the IAEA reach an accord,” said deputy government spokesman Christoph Steegmans. “That cannot be replaced by an accord with other countries.”