ID :
94915
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 02:00
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/94915
The shortlink copeid
Tehran won’t wait for response to fuel swap proposal
TEHRAN, Dec. 14 (MNA) -- Iran has not received any official response to its proposal to swap its low-enriched uranium for nuclear fuel, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Monday.
Mottaki made the remarks during a joint press conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov in Tehran.
Commenting on a U.S. official’s remarks rejecting Tehran’s proposal, the Iranian foreign minister said, “We have not received any official response and (we) do not insist that the other side respond to the proposal.”
“We just wanted to open a way for the other side,” he added.
The proposal showed Iran’s goodwill and intention to resolve the deadlock created by the 5+1 group (China, the United States, Russia, Britain, France, and Germany), he stated.
Tehran had proposed to swap 400 kilograms of low-enriched uranium for nuclear fuel in an exchange on the island of Kish as the first phase of a deal with the major powers.
However, on Saturday the United States dismissed the offer to swap nuclear fuel, which a senior U.S. official said was inconsistent with a deal allowing the Islamic Republic to avoid further sanctions, AFP reported.
Pointing to certain countries’ threats to impose sanctions on Iran, Mottaki stated, “(I) have responded to the half-baked remarks by some U.S. and British officials before. Today it is not possible to frighten countries through threats or sanctions, and the language of sanctions goes back to the 1960s.”
Asked whether Iran would swap three arrested U.S. citizens for 11 Iranians jailed in the U.S., he said the three Americans are still charged with illegally entering the country from Iraq with “suspicious” aims, and “They will be tried by Iran’s judiciary system and verdicts will be issued.”
Mottaki made the remarks during a joint press conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov in Tehran.
Commenting on a U.S. official’s remarks rejecting Tehran’s proposal, the Iranian foreign minister said, “We have not received any official response and (we) do not insist that the other side respond to the proposal.”
“We just wanted to open a way for the other side,” he added.
The proposal showed Iran’s goodwill and intention to resolve the deadlock created by the 5+1 group (China, the United States, Russia, Britain, France, and Germany), he stated.
Tehran had proposed to swap 400 kilograms of low-enriched uranium for nuclear fuel in an exchange on the island of Kish as the first phase of a deal with the major powers.
However, on Saturday the United States dismissed the offer to swap nuclear fuel, which a senior U.S. official said was inconsistent with a deal allowing the Islamic Republic to avoid further sanctions, AFP reported.
Pointing to certain countries’ threats to impose sanctions on Iran, Mottaki stated, “(I) have responded to the half-baked remarks by some U.S. and British officials before. Today it is not possible to frighten countries through threats or sanctions, and the language of sanctions goes back to the 1960s.”
Asked whether Iran would swap three arrested U.S. citizens for 11 Iranians jailed in the U.S., he said the three Americans are still charged with illegally entering the country from Iraq with “suspicious” aims, and “They will be tried by Iran’s judiciary system and verdicts will be issued.”
