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Iran Hints at Uranium Plan Changes

[New York Times] Robert F. Worth - On Tuesday, Alaeddin Borujerdi, the head of the Iranian Parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, said that if Iran agreed to ship its uranium abroad to be further enriched, "this must not happen in one go," and that the fuel must be shipped in installments, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency. That position could undermine the entire UN-sponsored plan discussed in Vienna. The French government has made it clear that the uranium must be shipped all at once before the end of the year. Borujerdi also said "our basic opinion" was that Iran preferred to purchase processed nuclear fuel rather than send its uranium abroad for processing. If Iran formally proposes to ship its uranium in installments, Western powers that brokered the proposed deal are likely to balk, said Valerie Lincy, a senior researcher with the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. "One of the problems would be that a part of the stockpile would remain in Iran, so the risk of breakout capacity would still be there," Lincy said. She also noted that Iran was continuing to produce low-enriched uranium, and could continue to do so rapidly even as it shipped almost equal amounts of fuel out in installments, making the deal largely meaningless.
2009-10-28 06:00:00
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