AS IRAN was claiming yesterday that it had launched a Kavoshgar-3 rocket capable of carrying a satellite, European officials were dismissing an apparent offer by its president to relaunch negotiations over the country’s uranium stockpile, calling it a time-wasting gambit aimed at ducking the threat of sanctions.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the launch was a huge breakthrough which would help break “the global domineering system” – a reference to Iran’s western foes.
“A launch like that is obviously a provocative act,” White House spokesman Bill Burton said.
“But the president believes that it is not too late for Iran to do the right thing – come to the table with the international community and live up to its international obligations.
On Tuesday, Mr Ahmadinejad had struck a more conciliatory note, saying Iran was ready to send its enriched uranium abroad in what appeared to be an easing of its position in the dispute.
However, the EU officials said the president’s offer to export uranium in return for fuel rods, under a deal struck last October that subsequently fell apart, would not be taken seriously unless it was presented to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Diplomats in Vienna, where the IAEA has its headquarters, said last night the agency had not received any formal signal Iran was ready to change its negotiating position.
Officials in Europe and Washington argued that the timing of Mr Ahmadinejad’s comments seemed aimed more at forestalling sanctions, under discussion at the UN Security Council, than at striking a deal.
“My interpretation is that they’re buying time,” French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said yesterday.
“But it’s been some years – since 2007 – that we’ve been talking. And I don’t see progress . . . I am perplexed and bit pessimistic.”
Mr Ahmadinejad used a Tuesday night interview on Iranian television to revive talk of a deal provisionally agreed in Geneva last year, under which up to 75 per cent of Iran’s low-enriched uranium (LEU) would be shipped out and returned – about a year later – in the form of fuel rods for a research reactor in Tehran.
After heated debate on the issue in Iran, the government told the IAEA in January that the exchange of LEU for fuel rods would have to be simultaneous.
This was rejected by western negotiators, for whom the year-long time lapse was an essential part of the deal because it would temporarily reduce Iran’s stockpile of LEU, which the West fears could be further enriched into fuel for a warhead.
Negotiations appeared to have broken down last month, but Mr Ahmadinejad seemed to reopen bargaining in his television interview. “We have no problem sending our enriched uranium abroad,” Mr Ahmadinejad said.
Critically, he also accepted the idea that there could be a time lapse of “four to five” months between the export of the uranium and the return of the fuel rods.
Some western officials raised the hope that it could be an opening bid intended to initiate serious new negotiations, but most questioned the seriousness of the offer. Since Russia signalled it might agree to new sanctions last September, China has emerged as the principal opponent to punitive measures among the security council’s five permanent members.
The Chinese foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, called for continued negotiations. “We want a consensus as soon as possible,” he said.