Turkey and Brazil reach tentative Iran deal/U.S. Is Skeptical on Iranian Deal for Nuclear Fuel/Major Powers Have Deal on Sanctions for Iran

Turkey and Brazil reach tentative Iran deal
© Reuters Limited
May 17, 2010
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ae96105e-6146-11df-9bf0-00144feab49a.html


TEHRAN - Turkey said on Sunday Iran had agreed on a nuclear fuel swap deal which could help end Tehran’s stand-off with the West over its atomic programme.

Full details of the agreement were not immediately released by Turkish and Brazilian officials mediating in Iran’s dispute with leading world powers, who suspect Tehran of covertly developing a nuclear bomb.

Turkey’s foreign ministry said a formal announcement might be made on Monday after any final revisions by the Brazilian and Iranian presidents and the Turkish prime minister.

“Yes, it has been reached after almost 18 hours of negotiations,” Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish foreign minister, told reporters in Tehran when asked if there would be an agreement.

Earlier, Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish prime minister, flew to Tehran to join Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazilian president, who has been negotiating with Iranian officials in what Western and Russian authorities have said is probably the last chance to avoid new U.N. sanctions against Iran.

A UN-backed deal offered Iran last October to ship 1,200 kg (2,646 lb) of its low enriched uranium – enough for a single bomb if purified to a high enough level – to Russia and France to make into fuel for a Tehran research reactor.

Iran later said it would only swap its LEU for higher grade material and only on its own soil, conditions other parties in the deal said were unacceptable. It denies seeking to build an atomic bomb.

“I am going to Iran because a clause will be added to the proposal which says the swap will take place in Turkey,” Mr Erdogan had said earlier.

“We will have the opportunity to start the process regarding the swap,” he said. “I guarantee that we will find the opportunity to overcome these problems, god willing.”

Mr Lula also told reporters after holding talks with Iranians that “the level of hope (to reach an agreement) has increased.”

Mr Lula has met President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran’s most powerful authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last say on all state matters like Iran’s nuclear activities.

“America is angry over the proximity of independent countries like Iran and Brazil...That is why they made a fuss ahead of your (Mr Lula’s) trip to Iran,” state television quoted Khamenei as saying.

Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, said on Friday that Mr Lula’s mediation effort would fail.

Iran has denied Western accusations it is developing nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear programme.

Turkey and Brazil, both non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, have offered to mediate to find a resolution to the impasse at a time when world powers are in talks to impose a fourth round of UN sanctions on Iran.

Iran had said it viewed the mediation positively.

The Islamic state started higher enrichment in February to create fuel for the research reactor itself, after the failure of talks with major powers over the nuclear swap. The step brings Iran’s enrichment closer to levels needed for making weapons-grade material – uranium refined to 90 percent purity.


U.S. Is Skeptical on Iranian Deal for Nuclear Fuel
By DAVID E. SANGER and MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: May 17, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/world/middleeast/18iran.html?th&emc=th


WASHINGTON — The United States, Europe and Russia responded with extreme skepticism to Iran’s announcement on Monday that it had reached an agreement to ship roughly half of its nuclear fuel to Turkey, saying they would continue to press for new sanctions against Tehran.

Nonetheless, officials from several countries said that the deal, negotiated with the leaders of Turkey and Brazil, was a deftly timed attempt to throw the sanctions effort off track.

The terms were similar to those of an accord made with the West last October that fell apart when Iran backtracked. Since then, Iran has added considerably to its stockpile of low-enriched uranium, meaning that it would keep on Iranian territory about half of its current supply — or about enough fuel for one nuclear weapon if it chose to make one. The earlier deal was attractive to Washington because it would have deprived Tehran of enough known fuel to make a weapon, leaving breathing space for negotiations.

Rejecting the new deal, however, could make President Obama appear to be blocking a potential compromise. And the deal shows how Brazil and Turkey, which for their own economic interests oppose sanctions, may derail a fragile international consensus to increase pressure on Iran.

The sanctions are aimed primarily at an issue that the deal does not address: Iran’s refusal to halt further enrichment, as the United Nations Security Council has demanded for four years, or to answer international inspectors’ questions about evidence suggesting research into possible weapons designs and related experiments. The inspectors have also been blocked from visiting many suspect facilities and laboratories, and from interviewing key scientists and engineers.

The deal agreed to Monday in Tehran calls for Iran to ship 2,640 pounds of low-enriched uranium to Turkey, where it would be stored for one year. In exchange, Iran would have the right to receive about 265 pounds of uranium enriched to 20 percent by other countries for use in a reactor that makes isotopes for treating Iranian cancer patients.

But the White House noted that even while striking the deal, Iran insisted on Monday that it would continue its new effort to enrich fuel at a higher level, taking it closer to bomb-grade material. “While it would be a positive step for Iran to transfer low-enriched uranium off of its soil as it agreed to do last October, Iran said today that it would continue its 20 percent enrichment, which is a direct violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions,” Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said in a statement.

Mr. Gibbs made clear that the administration would continue to press forward with sanctions until, as he said, Iran demonstrates “through deeds — and not simply words — its willingness to live up to international obligations or face consequences, including sanctions.”

A senior administration official who has been deeply involved in the Iran standoff said the agreement announced Monday “is not a solution for the core of the Iranian enrichment program.”

Sergei B. Ivanov, the deputy prime minister of Russia, was similarly skeptical at a lunchtime speech in Washington. He said he expected the sanctions resolution to “be voted in the near future,” and said that the new Iranian accord should not be “closely linked” to the sanctions effort. “Iran should absolutely open up” to inspectors, he said. That statement was significant because Russia had been reluctant to join sanctions several months ago. China, which has also been hesitant, issued no statement.

White House officials were clearly angered at the leaders of Turkey and Brazil, whom Mr. Obama had met personally in Washington during last month’s Nuclear Security Summit to urge them to be careful not to give the Iranians a pretext to avoid complying with United Nations demands. Mr. Obama followed up those meetings with detailed letters in the last week of April outlining specific concerns, a senior administration official said. But those letters appeared to have limited influence on the outcome.

Turkey’s ambassador to the United States, Namik Tan, described the agreement as a “confidence-building measure,” and said he was disappointed in the Obama administration’s reaction. “I would have expected a more encouraging statement,” he said.

“We don’t believe in sanctions, and I don’t believe anybody can challenge us, and certainly not the United States,” Mr. Tan said. “They don’t work.”

Iranian officials applauded the deal as a breakthrough, with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad saying at a news conference in Tehran that the agreement would be “to the benefit of all nations who want to live freely and independently.“

Iranian officials said they would send a letter confirming the deal to the International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations within a week.

“This shows that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons, but rather peaceful nuclear technology,” said Ramin Mehmanparast, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, in a televised news conference. “Such interactions must replace a confrontational approach.”

Diplomats in Vienna said the atomic agency had not been formally notified about the deal, but added that Tehran’s agreement to a swap outside its own territory was potentially significant.

Yet many analysts suggested that the deal was meant to transfer blame for the conflict to the West, while derailing sanctions that had appeared possible within weeks.

“Iran has a history of forging a deal and then going back on it,” said Emad Gad, an expert in international relations at the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. “It lets the situation get really tense and then reaches an agreement.”

There appear to be reasons to be skeptical. In Tehran, the Foreign Ministry spokesman told a person attending the news conference that Iran would not, for example, suspend its program to enrich uranium to 20 percent — closer to weapons grade.

Iran has said that its nuclear program is peaceful, while the West has charged that it is aimed at building weapons.

As international pressure for new sanctions grows, Iran is preparing for the June 12 anniversary of last year’s disputed presidential election, which led to months of protests and conflict.

The earlier agreement fell apart under political pressure in Iran when nearly every political faction criticized it as compromising Iran’s right to nuclear energy. Then and now, Iran’s negotiating team argued that the deal was in the nation’s interest because it effectively confirmed Iran’s right to enrich uranium.

If successful, the agreement would enhance and underscore the continued rise of Turkey and Brazil as global forces. Ferai Tinc, a political analyst writing in the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, said, “Ankara was neither a full supporter of Iran nor an advocate of violence and sanctions against it, but stood strongly for promoting a diplomatic resolution.“

David E. Sanger reported from Washington, and Michael Slackman from Cairo.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: May 17, 2010

Earlier versions of this article misidentified the newspaper running an article by the Turkish analyst Ferai Tinc. The newspaper should be Hurriyet, not Millyet.





Major Powers Have Deal on Sanctions for Iran
By DAVID E. SANGER and MARK LANDLER
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: May 18, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/world/19sanctions.html?th&emc=th


WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced an agreement on Tuesday with other major powers, including Russia and China, to impose a fourth set of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, setting the stage for an intense tug of war with Tehran as it tries to avoid passage of the penalties by the full United Nations Security Council.

The announcement came just a day after Iranian leaders announced their own tentative deal, with Turkey and Brazil, to turn over about half of Iran’s stockpile of nuclear fuel for a year, part of a frantic effort to blunt the American-led campaign for harsher sanctions.

“This announcement is as convincing an answer to the efforts undertaken in Tehran over the last few days as any we could provide,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, describing the agreement as a “strong draft.”

But even if the Security Council adopts the new sanctions, it is unclear whether the provisions — including a mandate to inspect Iranian ships suspected of entering international ports with nuclear-related technology or weapons — would inflict enough pain to force Iran to halt its uranium enrichment and cooperate with international inspectors. None of the previous three sets of sanctions passed by the Council during the Bush administration succeeded in their goal: forcing Iran to end its enrichment of uranium and to answer the many questions posed by international inspectors related to their suspicions about Iranian research into nuclear weapons.

Some of the toughest proposals were barely even discussed as the United States sought support from China, which is a major trading partner with Iran and has been the most resistant to new sanctions. Along with the Russians, the Chinese blocked any measure that would stop the flow of oil from Iranian ports or gasoline into the country. President Obama himself had raised the possibility of such sanctions during the 2008 campaign.

In the end, a deal was reached by the five permanent, veto-wielding members of the Council — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China — plus Germany. They agreed on sanctions against Iranian financial institutions, including those that supported the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Members of the Guard Corps are responsible for overseeing the military aspects of the nuclear program and have assumed commanding roles in the broader Iranian economy.

The newest element of the sanctions would require countries to inspect ships or planes headed into or out of Iran if there were suspicions that banned materials were aboard. But as in the case of sanctions against North Korea, there is no authorization to board ships forcibly at sea, a step officials from many countries warned could touch off a larger confrontation.

Another new element bars all countries from permitting Iran to invest in nuclear enrichment plants, uranium mines and other nuclear-related technology. That appeared to be aimed at halting rumored Iranian ventures with Venezuela and Zimbabwe, or with companies in Europe.

The agreement came months later than the administration had hoped, and after a hectic week of diplomacy, capped by a last-minute phone call by Mrs. Clinton to Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, to confirm whether Moscow was on board, a senior American official said.

The United States believed that it was close to a deal last week, said the official, who did not want to be identified by name while discussing internal negotiations. But it could not resolve the final points with Russia over conventional, nonnuclear arms sales to Iran, and with China over its energy investments there.

The American ambassador to the United Nations, Susan E. Rice, said, “We will seek a vote as soon as the conditions are right and Council members have had an opportunity to consider it.” Several officials said that moment would not come until next month, at the earliest.

Even if the proposed sanctions survive without being watered down, administration officials concede that they are unlikely to alter Iran’s behavior, unless they are combined with considerable additional pressure.

The previous three sets of sanctions were simply ignored by many of Iran’s trading partners. “The devil has been in the implementation,” Patrick Clawson, the deputy director for research at the Washington Institute for Near East Studies.

The draft resolution faces resistance from Brazil and Turkey, which have seats on the Council and brokered the deal to transfer some of Iran’s nuclear fuel out of the country. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey sharply criticized the continued push for sanctions by the United States. Mr. Erdogan worked with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil to reach the accord with Iran on Monday.

Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Brazil’s ambassador to the United Nations, said, “Brazil is not engaging in any discussion about this draft resolution, because we are sure there is a new situation.”

Turkey and Brazil have considerable business dealings with Iran, and are seen as eager to flex their muscles on the international stage. The ambassadors from the five permanent members of the Council, speaking with reporters at the United Nations, said that they respected the compromise that the countries had reached with Iran but that it did not address their core concern: Iran’s continuing efforts to enrich uranium.

Vitaly I. Churkin, the Russian ambassador, said that the draft resolution contained “language we can live with, because it is focused adequately on nonproliferation matters.”

Li Baodong, the Chinese envoy, said the resolution should signal to Iran that it needs to cooperate with the United Nations’ atomic energy agency. “The purpose of sanctions is to bring the Iranian side to the negotiating table,” he said, while praising the initiative taken by Brazil and Turkey.

Iran’s announcement that it would ship what is believed to be roughly half of its nuclear fuel to Turkey for further enrichment appeared to be a bid to undercut the American efforts to bring along China and Russia. The offer resembled an accord made with the West last October that fell apart when Iran backtracked.

Iran has said its nuclear program is intended to produce civilian energy, but American and European officials have pointed to work that seems unrelated to simply producing power.

A senior administration official said that one of the most critical sections of the proposed sanctions was modeled on a resolution passed last year against North Korea, after its second nuclear test. That resolution authorized all nations to search cargo ships heading into or out of the country if there were suspicions that weapons or nuclear technology were aboard.

In North Korea’s case, there have already been some modest successes. In one case, North Korea sent one of its ships back to port, rather than risk having it boarded and inspected.

Neil MacFarquhar contributed reporting from the United Nations, Peter Baker from Washington, and Raphael Minder from Madrid.