In its game of brinkmanship with the West, Iran has apparently succeeded in squeezing out some concessions on nuclear energy
The Big Three of the European Union – France, Germany and the UK – have submitted a package of proposals to the Iranian government in a last-ditch bid to get the country to abandon its uranium enrichment programme.
The moves follows Iranian threats to resume sensitive work imminently if an offer was not forthcoming.
“We will give ourselves one or two days to examine the European proposals and we will make a decision,” foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said on state television.
Details of the offer were not immediately available but are said to include sweeping proposals that would allow the country to acquire nuclear reactors and fuel and achieve a full economic relationship with the West. The proposal would bar Iran from operating a full nuclear fuel cycle but would instead allow the country to purchase fuel before transferring spent fuel to another country for disposal.
With the carrot apparently in place, Iran has been warned that to resume uranium conversion will invite UN Security Council intervention.