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Iran to announce decision on nuclear proposal after talks with IAEA

Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Alaeddin Boroujerdi has said that Iran will announce its final decision about the nuclear proposal after the talks between its ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, and IAEA officials.

The issue is being closely examined to see what can be done but no decision has been made yet, Boroujerdi told ISNA on Saturday.

Commenting on the remarks by some Western officials, who said that Iran should announce its final decision on Monday, he stated, “The Westerner’s cannot set any deadline for us.”

The nuclear fuel talks between Iran, Russia, the United States, and France in Vienna concluded on October 21 without a final agreement, but IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei presented a proposal for the four countries to study and said he hoped that all parties would give a firm response to his draft deal by October 23.

Under the draft deal, a large consignment of Iran’s enriched uranium would be shipped out of the country for processing into fuel rods with a purity of 20 percent, which would be used by a research reactor in Tehran that manufactures medical radioisotopes.

On October 23, diplomats from Russia, France, and the United States submitted their formal approvals of the deal to process Iran’s nuclear fuel abroad.

Several senior Iranian officials, including Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, have strongly criticized the deal, saying it is neither logical nor legal.

MP Ahmad Avaii of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee stated that Iran does not trust the West so Western countries should try to gain Iran’s confidence.

“Just as Western countries are always saying that Iran should build confidence and ‘we’ (Westerners) do not have confidence in Iran, we (Iranians) have also had bitter experiences in relations with the West and do not trust the West,” he told ISNA on Saturday.

Avaii said he believes the West wants to deceive Iran and has thus proposed a plan whose practical result would be the suspension of nuclear activities.

The MP also stated that Iran is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and should have the same rights as all the other NPT signatory states.

But Iran’s membership in the NPT has provided no advantages so far, he said.

No guarantee that West will fulfill promises

MP Seyyed Hossein Naqavi has said that there is no guarantee that the Westerners will fulfill their commitments in the talks and Iran is right to distrust them.

There is no guarantee, and thus the proposal for a fuel exchange is out of the question, he told ISNA on Saturday.

The MP explained that Iran first intended to accept the deal to acquire the fuel rods with a purity of 20 percent but the Westerners did not build confidence in this regard and Iran could not trust them.

Iran does not trust the countries that made the proposal to provide Iran the enriched uranium because they reneged on their previous commitments, he noted.

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