Word: uranium
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Days later, however, came the domestic backlash. Iranian Judiciary Chief Sadeq Larijani told reporters, "sending uranium out of Iran should be pondered upon and it seems that such an interaction on nuclear energy is not beneficial to Iran." His brother, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Ali Larijani, was also reportedly critical, saying the proposal as it stood was "neither logical nor legal." Parliament members began to publicly bash the Vienna deal. One member stated there is no guarantee in the proposed deal that the West "will fulfill their commitments" in the nuclear talks and that "Iran is right to distrust...
Maybe not. Since then, however, the bluster coming from Tehran has faded - and a consensus imposed from above may be forming. Instead of a rejection, Iran seems to be formulating a counter-proposal, one that conservative newspaper Keyhan described as a "gradual and simultaneous" exchange of enriched uranium with the West. Uranium would be sent abroad in two stages, not all at once, and any nuclear material shipped outside of Iran must be simultaneously exchanged for the enriched nuclear fuel Iran needs for domestic use. The worry in Tehran is that, if the original IAEA proposal were agreed...
Besides the U.S. and Iran, Russia seems to be the other major player on the nuclear issue. Whether or not Iran follows through on a draft deal to send much of its low-enriched uranium to Russia for further processing into fuel for a medical-research reactor, Moscow is in the middle. If the agreement works, it will boost Russia's international role, securing gratitude from the West without damaging Russia's ties to Tehran. If the accord falls through - or Iran agrees but does not comply - Moscow's support will be essential in imposing U.N. sanctions. China...
...fact, the opposite is turning out to be the case. That was evident in the rapid collapse last week of a U.N.-brokered nuclear deal that would have allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium while most of its stockpile would be shipped to Russia for conversion into reactor fuel. The government initially seemed to welcome the deal, but then it quicly retreated last week amid a chorus of criticism inside Iran. Hard-liners reacted with knee-jerk suspicion that the U.S. was secretly trying to steal Iran's uranium, and moderates smelled an opportunity to attack the government. Finally...
...over Iran for non-compliance is considerably diminished without their support. And while Moscow and Beijing may support efforts to press Tehran for greater transparency on its nuclear intentions (and while they have backed the Vienna deal), they don't share the Western powers' assessment that Iran's enriched-uranium stockpile represents an imminent bomb threat. That's why an even more challenging response for the U.S. and its allies than a simple "No" is an ambiguous...