Iran to ‘Seriously’ Look at Fuel Plan

Iran said Wednesday that it would “seriously and enthusiastically” study a Russian proposal aimed at reducing international fears about its nuclear program, the Iranian Students’ News Agency reported.

The remarks by Javad Vaeidi, deputy head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, were the most positive yet by a senior Tehran official about Moscow’s offer to form a joint venture with Iran to enrich uranium in Russia.

The Russian offer is backed by the United States and the European Union.

It is aimed at easing international concern that Tehran could make atomic bombs from highly enriched uranium. Iran says it only wants to enrich uranium to a low grade, suitable for generating electricity.

The Russian proposal “will be reviewed seriously and enthusiastically,” Vaeidi told ISNA.

“In our opinion, the Russian proposal could revive some of the unimplemented regulations of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty for transferring nuclear technology to countries which do not have access to this technology and break the scientific monopoly of this issue,” he said.

Iranian officials previously had said they would not accept any plan that did not allow Tehran to carry out enrichment on its own soil.

But EU diplomats and arms control experts have noted that Iran had stopped short of outright rejection of the plan, a response that could weaken Russian opposition to EU and U.S. efforts to refer Tehran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

Striking a much softer tone than recent comments by Iranian officials, Vaeidi said the proposal could be studied in the framework of an existing agreement with Moscow on the supply of enriched uranium for Iran’s first atomic reactor at Bushehr, due to come online late next year.