Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that his country is ready to send part of its uranium stock abroad for further enrichment, as proposed by the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Ahmadinejad said on state television that Iran would have "no problem" if most of its uranium was held for several months before being returned as fuel rods. Until now Tehran always refused to accept the proposal, and if confirmed the move would mark a major shift in Tehran's position.
Last month, Iran had informed the IAEA that it could not accept the terms of the deal, which was agreed in October 2009 between the IAEA and the so-called Group of Six Nations – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. It envisages that Iran send about two thirds of its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France, where it would be processed into fuel for a research reactor.
In his interview, Ahmadinejad dismissed the concerns of his "colleagues" that the West would not return the uranium, saying Iran would respond by producing more. "We have no problem sending our enriched uranium abroad," he said, adding: "We say: We will give you our 3.5 percent enriched uranium and will get the fuel. It may take four to five months until we get the fuel. If we send our enriched uranium abroad and then they do not give us the 20% enriched fuel for our reactor, we are capable of producing it inside Iran."
In Washington, the US administration said that if this was a new offer, it was "prepared to listen". In a first reaction, US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the US was "not prepared to change the deal. We are not interested in renegotiating it". In a later response, a White House official told the BBC: "If Mr. Ahmadinejad's comments reflect an updated Iranian position, we look forward to Iran informing the IAEA."
Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad's words were in stark contrast with the Iranian rhetoric unleashed earlier about missile shield deployments. The US Defense Department is reportedly preparing to expand defensive systems in Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, in part to counter the existing ballistic capabilities of Iran, which, according to a Pentagon report released this week, represent a "significant" threat to US and allied forces stationed in the Gulf region.
"Regional countries should know that this puppet show by the US, while claiming to create security in the region, is nothing except a new political ploy to increase the military presence at the expense of others," the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Ali Larijani, said.
On Tuesday, state television reported that Iran had successfully test-fired a rocket from the "Kavoshgar 3 satellite carrier." President Ahmadinejad unveiled a domestically-built satellite booster rocket on Wednesday.
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