Agence France Presse – Russia has warned Iran it will withhold nuclear fuel for Iran’s atomic power plant unless Tehran suspends uranium enrichment as demanded by the UN Security Council, the New York Times reported Tuesday, citing unnamed US, European and Iranian officials.
Igor Ivanov, secretary of Russia’s National Security Council, delivered the ultimatum last week to Ali Hosseini Tash, Iran’s deputy chief nuclear negotiator, the paper wrote, quoting officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Moscow infuriated Tehran last week by cancelling its March deadline to deliver fuel for the one-billion-dollar plant it is constructing near the Iranian city of Bushehr.
In public statements, Russia has accused Iran of failing to make payments owed to Moscow for the Bushehr project.
But European officials told the Times that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had informed some European governments last month that Russia made a decision not to deliver the nuclear fuel for the plant and that Moscow would publicly say the sole reason was financial, the paper wrote.
"We consider this a very important decision by the Russians. It shows that our disagreements with the Russians about the dangers of Iran’s nuclear program are tactical," a senior European official was quoted as saying. "Fundamentally, the Russians don’t want a nuclear Iran," the official said.
A senior Iranian official had also confirmed in an interview that Russia had threatened Iran that fuel would be delivered only after uranium enrichment work was suspended, the Times reported.
The United States has long lobbied Russia to cut off assistance for Iran’s Bushehr plant without success.
"We’re not sure what mix of commercial and political motives are at play here," one senior US administration official told the paper.
"But clearly the Russians and the Iranians are getting on each other’s nerves — and that’s not all bad."
The report comes as member states of the UN Security Council weigh a proposed resolution that would tighten sanctions against Iran over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.
Diplomats in Vienna, meanwhile, told AFP that Iran had denied UN inspectors access to its underground uranium enrichment plant on Monday.
Blocking UN inspectors from gaining access to the Natanz site could be a violation of Iran’s obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
