Vienna, Oct 21 (DPA) Many aspects of a proposed multilateral deal to process Iran’s nuclear fuel abroad remained unresolved as delegations began a third day of talks at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna Wednesday.
The previous day’s round was overshadowed by official comments from Tehran that it did not want to negotiate with France, but only with Russia and the US, the two other parties at the Vienna talks.
“It was a good beginning,” US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in Washington Tuesday. “But I think that we still need to sit down and work out a lot of the details on how we’ll actually implement this agreement that we had in (Geneva).”
Kelly was referring to a basic understanding reached between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US Oct 1 in Switzerland that the Islamic state would ship out enriched uranium for further processing abroad so that it can be used to fuel a medical-purpose reactor in Tehran.
“The hope is that after getting instructions from their capitals, the parties can reach an agreement,” a diplomat from one of the countries meeting in Vienna said.
For the countries negotiating with Iran over its uranium fuel, the scheme would be a signal that Iran does not intend to use the material for nuclear purposes.
In addition to a deal on processing Iran’s nuclear fuel, the US and other countries still want Tehran to comply with the UN Security Council demand for an end to enrichment activity at Iran’s Natanz nuclear plant.
“Well, I think we have been very, very clear on this that Iran is not meeting its obligations, and one of those obligations is not to enrich uranium,” Kelly said.
