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Iran terms for Russian plan

Vladimir Radyuhin

The Iranian side was expecting Russia to look for another partner, probably in Europe

MOSCOW: Iran has set three conditions for accepting Russia's plan to establish a joint venture for enriching uranium on Russian territory, a Russian expert said.

Teheran insists that its specialists be given access to the enrichment process, that part of the enrichment must take place in Iran and that a third party should join the project, head of the Contemporary Iran Studies Centre Radjab Safarov said in an interview published on Tuesday.

"If Russia agrees to conduct the conversion stage of uranium enrichment on Iranian soil and invites a third country participate in the proposed joint venture, it may be possible to reach agreement," said the expert who is known to have reliable information sources in Teheran.

Mr. Safarov said that China had failed to show interest in the project, and the Iranian side was expecting Russia to look for another partner, probably in Europe. According to the Russian Parliament's international committee head Konstantin Kosachyov, Russia had no objections to inviting any country to join the joint venture with Iran. He recalled that in the past Iran cooperated in the nuclear field with France and Germany.

However, Russia is believed to have rejected Teheran's demand to give its specialists access to the enrichment process.

Russia's Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said on Tuesday that the ball was in Teheran's court.

"Russia has made a number of proposals to defuse the situation, it is now up to the Iranian side to respond," Mr. Fradkov said.

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