VIENNA, Nov 26: Iran backed down in the face of fierce international pressure on Friday and dropped its demand for changes to a key agreement designed to reassure the world that Tehran does not want nuclear weapons.
Last week, Iran promised the European Union it would halt all activities related to uranium enrichment, a process that creates atomic fuel for power plants or weapons, in a bid to neutralize the threat of economic sanctions. But the ink on the hard-won accord was barely dry when Tehran demanded an exemption for some 20 enrichment centrifuges for research purposes. Western diplomats said this was impossible and could only deepen suspicions that Tehran has a secret weapons programme, as Washington alleges.
"They (Iran) have agreed to drop the demand and (the EU) are awaiting confirmation that a letter has been given to (U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei) confirming this," the diplomat said. A second Western diplomat confirmed it.
The head of the Iranian delegation to this week's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors meeting, Hossein Mousavian, said agreement had been reached, but still needed the final stamp of approval from Tehran.
He had said earlier in the day that the 20 centrifuges were "not important" and reaffirmed his commitment to the deal. "We are fully committed to a suspension of enrichment and related activities," Mr Mousavian said.
EU, US INFURIATED: Western diplomats in Vienna said the request to amend the terms of the freeze had infuriated not only the European Union, which is offering Iran a large package of political and economic "carrots", but also Washington, which despite Iranian denials has long accused Tehran of trying to build an atomic bomb.
Some Western diplomats said they thought Iran was only using the requested exemption as a bargaining chip, and would drop it if the final resolution was soft enough on Tehran. But others said the Iranians might be serious about keeping the centrifuges operating, and noted that a similar deal in October last year collapsed when the Iranians resumed production of centrifuge components. -Reuters
Accord in sight
Tehran and Europe are close to agreement on a freeze on Iranian fuel cycle work, in a move that could clear the way to a deal with the UN atomic agency, a spokesman said on Friday.
"There are ongoing discussions with Iran and Europe. We understand that they are close to an agreement but there are still final communications to take place," International Atomic Energy Agency spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said. -AFP