IRAN / RUSSIA: Iran willing to talk to West about nuclear issue without preconditions

Iran is ready for fresh talks on nuclear issues with the West without preconditions, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Tuesday (April 10) . A day earlier, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran had begun industrial-scale nuclear fuel production, a fresh snub to the U.N. Security Council which has slapped sanctions on Tehran for refusing to halt such work. Speaking to journalists in Tehran on Tuesday after talks with Afghan Foreign Minister Ranging Dadfar Spanta, Mottaki said the time for setting conditions for talks had passed and the West should move forward based on new realities. "We think that the other sides would move towards the new logical atmosphere and if they have a new offer for talks, we are always ready for immediate and comprehensive talks without any preconditions to find a solution for the nuclear issue," he said. Iranian officials said on Monday (April 9) that Iran had started injecting gas into a batch of 3,000 atomic centrifuges being installed at the Natanz enrichment site. They gave no figures for the number of machines in operation, saying U.N. inspectors would confirm numbers. Western experts say that, with 3,000 machines, Iran could make enough material for a bomb within a year, if desired. Diplomats had said before Monday's announcement that Iran had only set up a third of the 3,000 machines and had not injected the uranium gas feedstock. Two U.N. inspectors, who could provide the first independent confirmation of progress, arrived on Tuesday to inspect the Natanz site. Iran's enrichment activity, until now at an experimental level, has attracted international criticism, including from Russia its main big power ally. The United States has said it is concerned about Iran's announcement that it has expanded enrichment activity. Washington insists it will not negotiate unless Iran halts the work, a precondition Tehran has rejected. And Russia questioned Iran's announcement on Tuesday. "We are clarifying the situation, including in contact with experts from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Briefing journalists in Moscow with visiting Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lillikas, Lavrov said there was no confirmation that enrichment had started in the new machines, he said. Western analysts say Iran has made claims in the past about progress to strengthen its bargaining hand with the West but say Tehran has glossed over technical glitches that mean it is several years from being able to make a bomb. Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, insists it wants only to make fuel for atomic power plants it is planning. Its first one is still under construction with Russian help. The latest twist in the nuclear row pushed oil prices higher on Tuesday, towards 62 U.S. dollars a barrel. The U.N. Security Council has passed two sanctions resolutions since December for Iran's refusal to heed a demand to stop enriching uranium. NP/AD

ITN Source | April 10, 2007

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