IAEA Chief Calls For A Quick Iranian Decision

Mohammed el-Baradei, head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran should make a timely response to an offer to export and reprocess much of Iran's nuclear stockpile. Iran had announced that it would export almost three-quarters of its stockpile of low enriched uranium (LEU) for reprocessing into fuel for its medical experimental rector by Russia and France. According to estimates, this would have left Iran without enough LEU to process into a nuclear weapon.

But Iran has been reluctant to take a clear position on its willingness to export any LEU, and had at one point announced it would keep its LEU and buy fuel for its reactor on the open market. All of this comes in the wake of a revelation that Iran has a second, smaller plant for enriching its uranium stockpile.

El-Baradei said that a clear willingness to export its nuclear stockpile would be a powerful gesture from Iran that it was only interested in nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. However, the IAEA chief warned against the use of force to prevent nuclear proliferation, reminding the world community, possibly Israel and the United States specifically, that the invasion of Iraq was premised on a search for weapons of mass destruction.

Read more at RFE/RL.

Iran Nuclear Fuel Agreement Put Forth by IAEA; Good deal for Iran

The IAEA submitted a draft agreement to Iran, France, Russia and the U.S. Although details are unconfirmed, it appears the agreement would involve Iran exporting uranium to France and Russia for enrichment. While in a simple form this plan appears to be concilitory and functional, I have doubts it will really solve the issues at hand. First, Iran believes it has a right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, which is not addressed by this plan where that right is still only entrusted to other nations. Second, if Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons via uranium enrichment programs secretly, as has been claimed, this plan will have to include new guarentees for verifying the enrichment programs have been halted, a process that has thus far evaded international efforts. From a national defense prospective, Iran is wise to want to acquire a bomb. If it intends to continue developing one in secret, Iran still has no reason to reject the IAEA's proposal. There will no doubt be considerable foreign funding for exportation of uranium and it's enrichment. By accepting the plan, Iran will simultaneously gain less expensive energy bolstered by foreign aid, lift sanctions against it, get back in the world's good graces and, theoretically, be able to continue the covert development of a nuclear weapon. Seems like a good deal.