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5+1 stress benefits, not sanctions, in Iran N-deal |
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Thursday, 15 June 2006LONDON, June 15 (IranMania) - World powers stressed the benefits Iran can draw from guaranteeing that its nuclear program is peaceful and downplayed the threat of sanctions when they offered Tehran a deal last week, diplomats told AFP.
The incentives package does stipulate, however, that Tehran has to suspend uranium enrichment until its nuclear activities are proven to be peaceful, according to a copy of the confidential text shown to AFP Tuesday.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana did not present a list of sanctions in the text he handed over personally on June 6 in Tehran to Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, the diplomats said.
"We only handed over the positive part. The idea was not to give Iran a pretext to turn the proposal down," a European diplomat close to the Vienna-based watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
But Western diplomats have stressed there are two paths open to Iran, one of cooperation and benefits and the other of United Nations penalties.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett had said when the six world powers agreed on their approach on June 1 that if Tehran complied, the West would suspend action in the UN Security Council. If it failed to comply "further steps would have to be taken" in the Council, which can impose sanctions, AFP added.
She did not, however, reveal any details of the proposal, as officials said Iran was to be given time to consider the offer without it being made public.
A previous draft of the proposal seen by AFP lists sanctions that could be applied if Iran fails to move towards talks on guaranteeing it will not make nuclear weapons, and this page could eventually still be handed over to Iraq, diplomats said.
The nuclear deal was offered by the five UN Security Council permanent members, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, and Germany, and seeks to allay fears that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
It came after the United States had offered for the first time to join in nuclear talks with Iran, but the proposal handed over by Solana did not specify this.
The text seen by AFP says: "We propose a fresh start in negotiations of a comprehensive agreement between Iran and the E3/EU (Britain, France and Germany), with the support of China, Russia and the United States and other members of the international community."
Its benefits do however contain offers by the United States to lift some of its trade sanctions against Iran.
These include opening the door to the Islamic Republic modernizing its deteriorating civil aviation fleet by buying US planes and to "possible access to US and European agricultural products, technology and farm equipment," according to the text.
Washington, which considers Iran a sponsor of terrorism and now fears it is covertly developing nuclear weapons, has since the mid-1990s banned most US trade and investment with the Islamic republic.
There is also an offer to "actively support the building of new light water reactors in Iran," the text said.
These low-proliferation power plants would replace a heavy-water reactor Iran is building and which could produce large amounts of plutonium, a potential bomb material, diplomats said.
Iran would also get backing "for a new conference to promote dialogue and cooperation on regional security issues."
This was a step back from the the draft proposal's offer of a forum to work towards giving "guarantees for territorial integrity and political sovereignty."
The United States refuses to give Iran guarantees against attack.
The major obligation on Iran would be to have to suspend uranium enrichment, which makes nuclear reactor fuel but also atom bomb material.
The text calls for a moratorium on enrichment until the IAEA verifies "that all outstanding issues and concerns reported by the IAEA, including those activities which could have a military nuclear dimension, have been resolved."
Such verification could take years, perhaps decades, experts say. Iran refuses to suspend enrichment as it says its nuclear program is strictly peaceful.
Previous media reports had suggested that the text had called for a suspension only for the duration of talks on the incentives package.
But this suspension would turn into a moratorium on uranium enrichment once talks had concluded.
Thursday, June 15, 2006 - T®2005 IranMania.com
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Thursday, 15 June 2006
Iran
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