Source: VOA
The Iranian leader said his country would have no problem sending
low-enriched uranium abroad to be processed to 20 percent purity and returned to
Iran four or five months later.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that if
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is ready to accept an international
proposal that would ease concerns about the country's nuclear program, it would
be welcomed news. But U.S. officials say Iran must communicate its intentions to
the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Officials here say they are taking Mr. Ahmadinejad's remarks on state television
late Tuesday seriously. But they say that it remains to be seen whether his
comments reflect a change in Iran's position or are an attempt to ease pressure
for more sanctions on Iran.
The Iranian leader said his country would have no problem sending low-enriched
uranium abroad to be processed to 20 percent purity and returned to Iran four or
five months later.
Last October in Geneva, major world powers proposed that Iran ship most of its
stockpile of low-enriched uranium abroad to be further enriched and returned to
re-supply a Tehran medical research reactor that has run low on fuel.
Briefing reporters, State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley said if President
Ahmadinejad's comments mean that Iran is accepting the offer, it would be
welcomed news, but the real question is whether Tehran will officially respond
positively to the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA.
"From our standpoint, we will look for actions as opposed to just words," he
said. "To the extent that the president is offering a new perspective on the
Tehran research reactor arrangement that was offered Iran last fall in Geneva,
we will look forward to hearing about the Iranian position through the IAEA."
Mr. Ahmadinejad's remarks came amid expressions of optimism by U.S. officials
that world powers, including Russia and China, are becoming more inclined toward
new sanctions against Iran because of its defiance of demands for transparency
about its nuclear intentions.
A senior official here said that if the aim of the Iranian president is to try
to buy time or divide the international community, the gambit will backfire.
Meanwhile, the State Department denied a suggestion by Mr. Ahmadinejad that
discussions are underway on exchanging three Americans held in Iran on spy
charges for Iranians jailed in the United States.
U.S. officials say the three Americans are hikers who inadvertently crossed into
Iran last year while in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
Spokesman Crowley said if the Iranian leader's comments means that Tehran is
ready to resolve the cases of the hikers and other Americans detained or missing
in Iran, it would be long-overdue welcomed news.
But he said there are no negotiations underway and that the United States sees
no parallel between the hikers' and Iranians jailed in the United States for
criminal offenses.
"There's not really equivalence, if you will, between an Iranian citizen who has
been indicted and/or convicted of arms trafficking in violation of international
law, and three hikers who wandered across an unmarked border. So we're not
interested in a swap per se. We are interested in resolving the cases of our
citizens who should be released immediately," the State Department spokesman.
Crowley said U.S. officials are ready to respond to questions Iran might have in
the cases of jailed Iranians and to facilitate consular access to them.
... Payvand News - 02/04/10 ... --
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