Offer by Europe Would Give Iran Nuclear Future

[jamesinca]

Offer by Europe Would Give Iran Nuclear Future

By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
Published: August 5, 2005
WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 - In a first test of the new leadership in Iran, European negotiators have prepared a sweeping proposal that raises the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear reactors and fuel, and of achieving a full political and economic relationship with the West, if it ends nuclear activities suspected to be part of a weapons program, Western diplomats said Thursday.

The European offer, drafted with the tacit approval of the Bush administration, is to be transmitted by the end of this weekend as the latest step in a European-American effort to get Iran to abandon its suspected nuclear arms ambitions. That effort has run into repeated difficulties, most recently over Iran's announced intention to resume uranium conversion and enrichment in defiance of European warnings.

Western diplomats who have read the European offer or who know its contents said that it presented a full spectrum of relationships for Iran with the West, from technology sharing to trade preferences to security guarantees, if the Tehran government cooperates on nuclear matters, and also on improving human rights and combating terrorism. They said it was much more detailed and specific than the more general offers floated by the Europeans earlier this year, but they did not describe the offer in full.

Since it seeks a pledge by Iran to end the uranium conversion and enrichment activities that Iran insists are its prerogative under international accords governing nuclear technology, there is considerable doubt that Iran will accept it, at least right away. Iran suspended its nuclear work during the negotiations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/05/politics/05iran.html?hp&ex=1123300800&en=5ca8ac1b52452351&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Mairead]

1. Of course with the US contemplating using tac nukes to enforce

its hegemony, if I were an Iranian hierarch I wouldn't regard 'give up your weapons program' as anything but self-serving.

[Raiden]

2. As I read it, that sounds like a good plan

I'm not sure if Iran will uphold their end of the bargain, but stranger things have happened.

[Moderator]

3. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1678203