US “mildly disappointed” with Iran for withholding reply on overseas enrichment

After France, Russia and US accepted the IAEA director’s compromise plan for Iran to export three-quarters of its low-enriched uranium overseas for reprocessing as fuel Friday Oct. 23, Iranian state TV first announced Tehran had opted to purchase enriched uranium overseas and not send it out for further enrichment.
Next, an Iranian official said the reply had not yet been written and Tehran would report on progress next week.
In Washington, the State Department said it was unhappy that Iran was not ready to embrace the plan. It was floated by IAEA director Mohammed ElBaradei Wednesday Oct. 21 as a compromise for safeguarding the enriched uranium against its use by Iran in nuclear weapons production. The proposal saved the talks between the three powers and Iran from stalemate.
All four were given two days to respond. Tehran waited for France, Russia and the US to approve the arrangement by the Friday deadline; then, when all eyes had switched to Iran, shot the ball back at them in a typical maneuver by a state television announcement:
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is waiting for a constructive and confidence building response to the clear proposal of buying fuel for the Tehran research reactor,
An unnamed member of Iran’s negotiating team urged world powers Friday to ‘refrain from past mistakes in violating agreements and make efforts to win the trust of the Iranian nation.’
DEBKA-Net-Weekly 418, just out Friday, examined the proposal from Iran’s perspective:
On past form, Tehran’s typical response would not be a straight negative but a “Yes, but…” opening the way to interminable and futile palaver.
Even if Iran’s leaders decided to accept the ElBaradei proposal, they would need more than a couple of days to prepare the public for this compromise after Revolutionary Guards chief Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari bluntly threatened the US with a “crushing response” for its alleged complicity in a terrorist attack just six days earlier in Baluchistan. The deputy commander of al Qods and six lieutenants were among the 42 killed.
Powerful hard-line opposition inside the regime would also have to be overcome, notably on the part of Jafari himself, Iran’s senior nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and the high-ranking clerics Ayatollahs Hossein Nuri and Mesbah Yazdi.
They all subscribe to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s doctrine which holds that since America is a paper tiger, Tehran has nothing to fear from a US or Israel attack or sanctions, and must not be drawn into compromising on its nuclear-weapons program, which offers Iran the best guarantee for its present and future role as the leading Muslim power in Asia and the Middle East.

After France, Russia and US accepted the IAEA director’s compromise plan for Iran to export three-quarters of its low-enriched uranium overseas for reprocessing as fuel Friday Oct. 23, Iranian state TV announced Tehran had opted to purchase enriched uranium overseas and not send it out for further enrichment. Tehran avoided either accepting or rejecting the plan to have its uranium reprocessed in Russia and France. The plan was floated by IAEA director Mohammed ElBaradei Wednesday Oct. 21 as a compromise for safeguarding the enriched uranium against its use by Iran in nuclear weapons production. The proposal saved the talks between the three powers and Iran from stalemate.
The three powers and Iran were given two days to respond. Tehran waited for France, Russia and the US to approve the arrangement by the Friday deadline; then, when all eyes had switched to Iran, shot the ball back at them in a typical maneuver by a state television announcement:
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is waiting for a constructive and confidence building response to the clear proposal of buying fuel for the Tehran research reactor,
An unnamed member of Iran’s negotiating team urged world powers Friday to ‘refrain from past mistakes in violating agreements and make efforts to win the trust of the Iranian nation.’
DEBKA-Net-Weekly 418, just out Friday, examined the proposal from Iran’s perspective:
On past form, Tehran’s typical response would not be a straight negative but a “Yes, but…” opening the way to interminable and futile palaver.
Even if Iran’s leaders decided to accept the ElBaradei proposal, they would need more than a couple of days to prepare the public for this compromise after Revolutionary Guards chief Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari bluntly threatened the US with a “crushing response” for its alleged complicity in a terrorist attack just six days earlier in Baluchistan. The deputy commander of al Qods and six lieutenants were among the 42 killed.
Powerful hard-line opposition inside the regime would also have to be overcome, notably on the part of Jafari himself, Iran’s senior nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and the high-ranking clerics Ayatollahs Hossein Nuri and Mesbah Yazdi.
They all subscribe to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s doctrine which holds that since America is a paper tiger, Tehran has nothing to fear from a US or Israel attack or sanctions, and must not be drawn into compromising on its nuclear-weapons program, which offers Iran the best guarantee for its present and future role as the leading Muslim power in Asia and the Middle East. End of quote.
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