Russia is offering to supply fuel for Iran's first nuclear power station with the aim of persuading the country to suspend uranium enrichment, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said.
Putin called on Iran to ensure its nuclear activities are “open and transparent'' during a meeting today at his residence near Moscow with the top Iranian nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, the Interfax news service reported.
Russia is considering sending fuel for Bushehr, a Russian- built nuclear power plant in southern Iran that is close to completion, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said by telephone. “The sooner we ship it, the less they will have a need for their own program.''
The U.S. and its European allies are pushing Russia and China — both permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — to back further punitive measures against Iran, which they accuse of seeking to build an atomic bomb. Highly enriched uranium can be used to produce nuclear energy or to manufacture atomic warheads.
The Russian offer comes in the wake of a U.S. intelligence assessment that Iran halted its nuclear-weapons program four years ago. White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said yesterday that the report may complicate President George W. Bush's drive for stiffer international sanctions.
Still, the European Union said today that discussions on a third set of sanctions on Iran will proceed, along with efforts to begin formal negotiations over Iran suspending its program.
Bush phoned Putin earlier today to discuss the Iranian nuclear problem, the Russian president's office said.
Solana `Disappointed'
Oil-rich Iran, which insists its nuclear program is purely to generate electricity, has refused Security Council calls for a suspension of uranium enrichment. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he was “disappointed'' by talks last week with Jalili.
“The sending of nuclear fuel will not in any way harm the peace of the region,'' Peskov said. “Should it be done, it will be done under strict IAEA supervision, very strict control of IAEA specialists. It will be under 24-hour video camera surveillance.'' The International Atomic Energy Agency is the United Nations' nuclear watchdog.
The Russian daily Kommersant reported today, without citing anyone, that Russia hopes Iran will agree at least to a temporary suspension of uranium enrichment if the Bushehr project is completed.
Russia, which began construction of the Bushehr reactor more than a decade ago, slowed the work this year amid a dispute over payment. Iran says its payments are made in full and blames Russia for caving into pressure from the U.S.
Sealed in Siberia
UN inspectors in Siberia on Nov. 30 sealed a batch of nuclear fuel for Bushehr, meaning it is ready for delivery. The IAEA certified that fuel prepared by the Novosibirsk Chemicals Plant meets technical and safety standards.
Putin said after talks in Tehran with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in mid-October that his country would complete Bushehr, though he didn't give a specific date. His visit was the first to Iran by a Kremlin leader since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
“Without loaded fuel, the Bushehr station itself is a monument, nothing else,'' said Peskov. “The existence of this monument without loaded fuel will lead Iran to enhance its own enrichment program.''
Russia last year attempted to broker a solution to the Iranian nuclear dispute by offering to enrich uranium for the Gulf state on Russian soil. Iran rejected the offer because it was conditional on a suspension of its enrichment activities.
The U.S. intelligence report confirms that the international community was “right to be concerned about Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons,'' a spokesman for U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today. “Of course there's still a threat,'' Michael Ellam told reporters.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini today said Iran has never sought to build nuclear weapons.
