Iran has enriched about 110 kg of uranium to 20 per cent purity, a step closer
to the level needed for nuclear weapons. When pressed for an explanation, it
claimed to need this material for a civilian research reactor.
In fact, Iran lacks the technology to make the fuel for this plant. Western
officials have concluded that Tehran has no conceivable use for uranium
enriched to this level. So their opening proposal in Baghdad was for Iran to
freeze production and hand over the existing stockpile of this material.
Regardless of whether Iran has any use for this substance, transferring a
single gram would amount to a symbolic concession. Iran wants sanctions
eased first – and its representatives have a strategy of their own. By
dangling concessions, they are trying to break the unity of the six powers
and peel off Russia and China from their Western counterparts.
Iran wants to divide its opponents; the group of six are trying to extract the
material that Tehran’s scientists have sacrificed so much to manufacture. If
this fraught dispute is to be resolved, many sleepless nights of negotiation
lie ahead.
Related posts:
Views: 0