To end the “nuclear deal” dispute, Russia: We are ready to receive enriched uranium from Iran.
Russia expressed its willingness on Wednesday to receive highly enriched uranium from Iran and convert it into fuel for civilian nuclear reactors.
This move comes as a potential means of helping to narrow the gap between the United States and Iran over Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran asserts its right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but its rapidly advancing uranium enrichment program raises concerns in the West and the Gulf states that it seeks to manufacture a nuclear weapon .
The United States is seeking an agreement that would curb Iran’s nuclear activities, but President Donald Trump said in an interview published Wednesday that he is less confident than he was two months ago that Iran will agree to halt enrichment .
The Kremlin said last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin told Trump in a phone call that he was willing to leverage his country’s close partnership with Iran to assist in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program .
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by Russian media on Wednesday as saying that efforts should be redoubled to reach a solution and that Moscow is ready to help with ideas and practical means .
“We are ready to provide assistance to Washington and Tehran, not only politically and in the form of ideas that can be used in the negotiation process, but also practically, by exporting excess nuclear material produced by Iran and subsequently modifying it to produce fuel for reactors, for example,” Ryabkov said.
He did not clarify whether the nuclear fuel would be returned to Iran for use in its peaceful nuclear energy program, which Moscow is helping to develop .
The United States wants to ship all highly enriched uranium out of Iran, which says it will only export quantities in excess of the ceiling agreed upon in the 2015 agreement and cannot abandon enrichment entirely .
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed, “It is very important here to say that Russia will be ready to provide these services if required, and if the parties deem it necessary.”
Russia, the world’s largest nuclear power, does not want Iran to possess nuclear weapons, but it believes it has the right to develop its nuclear program for civilian purposes and that any use of military force against it would be illegal and unacceptable .
Russia has purchased weapons from Iran for use in the war with Ukraine and signed a 20-year strategic partnership agreement with Tehran earlier this year .
Shafaq.com