Brazil President Lula, Iran President Ahmadinejad
and Turkish
Prime Minister Erdogan, after reaching an
agreement that calls
for Iran to ship some of its uranium to Turkey
for reprocessing.
Le Figaro, France
Tehran Moves Shrewdly with Turkey-Brazil Nuclear Deal
"By winning the support of two emerging
powers like Turkey and Brazil, Tehran has left an important imprint on the
international stage. … Barack Obama had managed to isolate Iran and was previously
criticized for the time he took reaching out to it. Now it's time for him to
move."
The agreement on Iran's nuclear program
negotiated in Tehran with Brazil and Turkey is a deal that permits Iran to
mislead the eye with the illusion of progress.
In fact, it's a reprise of a proposal that dates
back to October 2009, and fails account for the progress on enrichment Iran has
made in the meantime.
Seven months ago, it was proposed that Iran
export 1,200 kilos [2645 pounds] of low-enriched uranium (of a total stockpile,
estimated at the time, of 1,800 kilos) to be further enriched abroad to supply
a research reactor [boosting the purity of Iran's uranium from 5 to 20 percent].
The Iranian stockpile today is estimated at 2,400 kilos. The proposal accepted
by Tehran would leave 1,200 kilos of low-enriched uranium in Iran. Knowing that
the country has since unilaterally begun to further enrich its uranium to over 20
percent pure and has repeated its intention to continue, the deal proposed to
Turkey and Brazil has all the makings of a fool's bargain.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Let's recall that the original proposal had the
goal of giving negotiators time by delaying the moment at which Iran would be
able to build a nuclear weapon. But what was valid that October doesn't apply
today, since even if it exports 1200 kilos of low-enriched uranium, Iran is much
closer to the threshold than it was before.
But in terms of form, this is a very clever
Iranian maneuver. By winning the support of two emerging powers like Turkey and
Brazil, Tehran has left an important imprint on the international stage.
Insofar as China and Russia, it will be difficult
to call for sanctions without at least considering the Iranian proposal. Barack
Obama had managed to isolate Iran and was previously criticized for the time he
took reaching out to it. Now it's time for him to move. Now it's time for him to
move.
