Iran ties enrichment halt to fuel import guarantee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Iran would consider stopping sensitive uranium enrichment if guaranteed a supply of nuclear fuel from abroad, a senior Iranian official said on Thursday.
For that to happen, U.N. inspectors would have to verify Iran's disputed nuclear programme is wholly peaceful and a myriad of international sanctions against Tehran be lifted. There is little prospect of either on the horizon.
Iran is trying to master nuclear fuel-cycle technology that could yield electricity -- its stated goal -- or give it the capability to make atom bombs if the process is adjusted, which Western powers suspect is Tehran's underlying purpose.
Tehran has defied U.N. resolutions demanding it suspend enrichment and withheld cooperation needed to resolve a U.N. nuclear watchdog probe into whether it researched ways to build bombs. Iran denies the charges but not given backup evidence.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the reason why Iran was enriching uranium was the lack of an legally binding international accord on security of fuel supply.
Asked if with such a deal Iran would shelve enrichment, he said that arrangement would be a first step but it would have to be implemented, and Iran would need to retain some enrichment as a contingency in case supplies were cut.
"This is a first step ..., then the next step is to see it really implemented," he told reporters at a Brussels conference.
If this were carried out, "then Iran would be able to reconsider the position that we have now. The situation would be different, we would have to see," Soltanieh said.
"Plus every country has to be cautious to have as a contingency plan a fuel reserve in case of interruption."
He also said the West was trying to humiliate Iran by seeking to prevent it doing nuclear research and development. "When you use language of threat, it won't work."
Iran says it has no intention of making atom bombs, noting its commitment to continued IAEA inspections of nuclear sites.
It also denies blocking the IAEA inquiry but says that inspectors, egged on Iran's arch-foe the United States, are seeking unacceptable access to purely conventional military sites whose exposure would jeopardise its security.
The IAEA and Western nations say Iran must grant such access to clear up intelligence allegations of military involvement in the nuclear programme. More generally, Iran should stop limiting inspector movements to declared nuclear sites, they say.
"Iran (should) implement all transparency measures ... required to build confidence ... This will be good for Iran, good for the Middle East region and good for the world," IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei told the annual 145-nation assembly of the U.N. watchdog in Vienna this week.
(Writing by Mark Heinrich)