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Iran's Mottaki quoted: won't suspend research

Posted on: Monday, 27 February 2006, 08:28 CST

By George Nishiyama and Teruaki Ueno

TOKYO (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told Japan on Monday Tehran would not suspend its atomic research and development, casting doubt over whether a Russian agreement would defuse a crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

On Sunday, Iran's nuclear chief said his nation had reached a "basic" agreement with Russia on a joint venture to enrich uranium, but it was unclear what the deal involved and both Russian and Iranian officials had identified serious obstacles to a full deal.

These principally concerned a suspension of Tehran's home-grown uranium enrichment work, the main demand of Western powers which are threatening to press for U.N. sanctions. Iran insists it is carrying out peaceful research to fulfil its energy needs.

"We have been conducting nuclear research and development on a laboratory scale, and it's impossible for us to suspend this again," Mottaki was quoted by a Japanese Foreign Ministry official as saying in a meeting with Foreign Minister Taro Aso.

Mottaki, who is in Tokyo on a three-day visit, also told Aso that the Russian proposal had no references in it to Iran's rights to pursue a peaceful nuclear program.

"We have the right to a peaceful use of nuclear energy and we cannot accept nuclear apartheid," he told Aso.

Aso, though, urged Iran to relieve international concerns by making a "wise and positive response" to the Russian proposal.

"Japan does not want to see Iran be isolated," Aso was quoted as saying.

DEFUSE SUSPICIONS

The original Russian proposal had been for Iran's uranium to be enriched in Russia to defuse suspicions that Iran might divert some nuclear fuel into a weapons program.

However, Iran has always insisted upon its right to enrich the uranium it mines in its central desert on its own soil, and it was unclear how the original Russian proposal could be tailored to please Tehran.

With time running out for Iran to avoid formal referral to the U.N. Security Council at a March 6 board meeting of the IAEA, Japan hopes to persuade Iran -- its third-largest oil supplier -- to stop producing enriched uranium, which can be used for nuclear weapons.

Japan, which imports about 15 percent of its crude oil from Iran, or some 500,000 barrels a day, has kept up good ties with the Islamic Republic, and Japanese officials have said this gives Tokyo a unique role to play in defusing the tensions.

"I believe our nations' cooperative consultations will continue," Mottaki told Aso before their talks began.

At the March 6 meeting, the IAEA board will discuss the U.N. watchdog's latest report on Iran's nuclear program which may determine whether the United States and European powers push the Security Council to impose sanctions.

The stand-off has posed a dilemma for Japan, which wants to stay in diplomatic sync with the United States, its main security ally, while also pursuing the development of an Iranian oil field seen by Tokyo as vital to its energy strategy.

Flying in the face of U.S. objections, Tokyo went ahead two years ago with a deal on a billion-dollar project to develop the Azadegan oil field in southern Iran, estimated to hold the world's second-biggest single oil reserves.

The Japanese government has a 36 percent stake in Japan's biggest oil developer, INPEX Corp., which plans to develop the southern part of Azadegan, estimated to hold 26 billion barrels of oil.

The Azadegan development is one of the biggest foreign investments in Iran, and Japanese media have estimated that the project may cost up to $1.7 billion.

(Additional reporting by Masayuki Kitano and Elaine Lies)

Source: REUTERS

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