BERLIN – The UN nuclear watchdog chief yesterday urged Iran to accept an offer to process its enriched uranium abroad by the end of 2009, and advised western powers not to impose further sanctions on Tehran.
Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said a plan brokered by the IAEA where Iran would send low-enriched uranium to Russia and France for conversion into fuel for a Tehran medical reactor was a chance to defuse mistrust over its nuclear programme.
“I would hope definitely that we’ll get an agreement before the end of the year,” he told a news conference in Berlin. “I believe frankly the ball is very much in the Iranian court.”
Mr ElBaradei, who retires on November 30th after 12 years trying to stop the spread of nuclear weapons know-how, praised US president Barack Obama’s role in talks with Iran, saying he had an initiated a “complete change of policy”.
Noting that under President Obama the US had taken a “creative and pragmatic” approach to resolving the impasse over Tehran’s nuclear programme, Mr ElBaradei used the news conference to send a message directly to the Iranian leadership.
“You need to engage in creative diplomacy, you need to understand that this is the first time that you will have a genuine commitment from an American president to engage you fully, on the basis of respect, with no conditions. Don’t lose that opportunity,” he said.
Tehran had on Wednesday rejected the proposal he drafted to send the fuel abroad, but Mr ElBaradei said that as it was not a written response he did not think it was Iran’s final position.
Both western powers and Tehran had let each other down in the past and Iran had “every reason to be distrustful”, he said.
The IAEA chief said he was opposed to the imposition of more punitive sanctions if Tehran did finally reject the proposal.
Six world powers met in Brussels yesterday to discuss what to do about Iran’s spurning of the draft fuel deal. President Obama warned Tehran it would have to face “consequences”, an allusion to broader international sanctions.
Under the IAEA plan, Iran would ship out some 75 per cent of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) for conversion into fuel plates for a Tehran reactor that makes isotopes for cancer treatment.
Western powers suspect Iran is using its nuclear programme to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies this and says its nuclear ambitions are limited to the peaceful generation of electricity.