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| Tuesday, 23 November 2004 |
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Iran says nuclear suspension to begin TEHRAN, Monday (AFP) Iran on Monday will suspend its sensitive nuclear activities surrounding the enrichment of uranium, in accordance with an agreement reached with Britain, France and Germany, state television said. "In line with the agreement with the Europeans, the suspension is to start today," the report said, although it was not clear at exactly what time this would be put into force. Speaking to BBC radio, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei said the suspension was a "step in the right direction". "We believe that all the declared nuclear material in Iran is in our custody right now and has not been diverted to nuclear weapons," the head of the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog said. "However there is still a lot of work to do to make sure there are not undeclared activities in the country," he said. Iran agreed a week ago in a deal with the three European Union states to suspend as of Monday all its uranium enrichment related activities, including making uranium gas, as a confidence-building measure in order to avoid being taken to the UN Security Council. On Thursday the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors is to discuss Iran's case. The Vienna-based body must verify the suspension if Iran is to escape the threat of sanctions, something the United States has been pushing for. Washington accuses Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge denied by Tehran. Iran had already frozen the actual enrichment process since October 2003, but had pressed on with work on other parts of the fuel cycle - including converting raw uranium into the gas fed into centrifuges and making the centrifuges themselves. The Islamic republic insists it only wants to enrich uranium to low levels, so as to become self-sufficient in producing fuel for a series of atomic energy reactors it plans to build in the future. But Western official have suggested that once it has mastered the fuel cycle, Iran could divert its programme towards making highly enriched uranium - the explosive core of a nuclear bomb. The state television report said officials at a Uranium Conversion Facility in Isfahan "have taken the appropriate measures so that the suspension enters into force at the scheduled time." And it repeated the terms of the deal by saying the freeze would also apply to "the import, production and assembly of centrifuges." Under the deal with the three European states, Iran is to maintain its suspension while talks on a long-term resolution to the stand-off are in progress. Negotiations on defining long-term guarantees on Iran's peaceful intentions as well as a package of incentives for Tehran are scheduled to begin in mid-December. Ideally the EU-3 would like Iran to abandon its fuel cycle work altogether. But Iran is standing by its right to the fuel cycle, saying enrichment for peaceful purposes is permitted by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). But it has said it is ready to discuss ways in which it can operate the fuel cycle under full IAEA supervision that would ease any alarm. Officials here have also signalled they will not allow the talks with the EU to drag on fruitlessly too far into 2005. |
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