Iranian Pundits Guarded About A Quick Success In Nuclear Talks

"We had talks with Rosatom and we hope that as part of our cooperation, based on the plans and contracts we will sign, we will be able to do this and start using Iranian fuel in the reactor in Bushehr", Mohammad Eslami was quoted Saturday by Russia's state-owned Sputnik as saying.

The United States had expressed reservations about Russia building the Bushehr nuclear power plant but finally relented in late 2000s, saying that as long as Russia controls the fuel it did not see the project as a proliferation risk.

It is not clear what the US reaction would be if Iran starts using domestic fuel.

Russia was also responsible to take away the spent fuel and it is not clear that if Iran supplies the uranium fuel it would still be willing to send the spent fuel to Russia.

Iran is not known to have built facilities that would be able to separate plutonium from spent reactor fuel. Moscow and Tehran have an agreement to send back the spent fuel from the Bushehr plant to Russia. Russia last supplied fuel for the reactor in April 2020.

Eslami’s statement comes amid sensitive nuclear negotiations in Vienna to restore Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers, known as JCPOA, which was meant to limit Tehran’s nuclear program. Although the Bushehr plant had nothing to do with that agreement, Iran’s plan to replace Russian fuel with domestic uranium can inject a new element in Western calculations.

Rosatom, Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation, carried out most of the construction of the first reactor of Bushehr and has provided the reactor's fuel under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since it began operating in 2011. The company is now constructing a second reactor at the site and has signed a contract to construct a third power unit.

Pointing out that the construction of the second and third power units of the Bushehr power plant is around 23 months behind schedule, Eslami said Iran is expecting Rosatom to speed up the project's implementation and make compensation for its delay.

Construction began in 2017 on the two new nuclear reactors, due for completion in 2024 and 2026, at Bushehr with a projected combined capacity of 2,100 MW. The work follows a 2014 agreement between Iran and Rosatom.

Eslami was also asked by Sputnik Friday whether Iran will continue to enrich uranium beyond 60 percent if the country does not return to the 2015 nuclear deal and sanctions are not lifted, to which he replied "no."

With electricity generation at around 50,000-56,000 MW in the past few years, rising no more than 2,000 MW a year, Iran has struggled to meet consumption that has been rising and is encouraged by subsidized prices.

Bushehr nuclear power plant was connected to Iran's national power grid in September 2011. During a visit on 2 October to Bushehr, in southern Iran, President Raisi (Raeesi) said the current 1,000-megawatt (MW) capacity of Iran’s sole nuclear power plant would be tripled with further development, and that the AEIO was committed to increasing production from nuclear power to 10,000 MW.

With an annual average of 300 sunny days in over two-thirds of the country Iran has great potential for solar energy, but renewables including hydro-power account for 7 percent of Iran’s energy generation compared to 90 percent from natural gas and dirty oil fuels.

"Iran has not designed its missiles for nuclear purposes since it did not have and does not have any plans to use nuclear energy militarily,” spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement, claiming that the peacefulness of Iran's nuclear program is completely evidenced by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“The British know better than anyone else that Iran's missile program has nothing to do with UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and its provisions,” Khatibzadeh said, while accusing Britain of practically violating the UNSC resolution through “arbitrary interpretation.”

In a statement Friday, the foreign office condemned Iran's use of ballistic missiles in a test launch which it said was confirmed to have been conducted on the same day. "The launch is a clear breach of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which requires that Iran not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons – including launches using ballistic missile technology," the statement said.

The 2015 resolution which sanctioned Iran's nuclear agreement, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), called upon Iran "not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) on Friday simultaneously launched 16 ballistic missiles on the last day of largescale five-day military exercises dubbed Great Prophet 17 in in the Persian Gulf region, the Strait of Hormuz, as well as the coastal areas of the southern province of Hormozgan, Bushehr, and Khuzestan.

The UK Foreign Office called the test launch of the missiles "a threat to regional and international security" and urged Iran to immediate cease such activities.

Chief of the Armed Forces' Joint Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri (Baqeri) Friday described the exercises as "the most successful missile [launch] exercises so far" and said they were "an appropriate response to the Israeli regime’s latest empty threats".

“The message of this exercise is a serious and real warning to the threats of the Zionist regime officials,” the IRGC Commander-in-Chief Major General Hossein Salami also warned Friday. "The difference between real operations and the IRGC's missile launch exercises is only a matter of adjusting the launch gradient [towards Israel]."

In recent weeks Iran and Israel have escalated their war rhetoric against each other. Israel staunchly opposes the revival of the JCPOA. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett Wednesday discussed Iran and the ongoing nuclear talks, stressing the need for a joint strategy.

Israeli officials have repeatedly said Israel has the capability to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. The incoming commander of the Israeli air force, Major General Tomer Bar, said Wednesday that if need be, Israel can successfully destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities “tomorrow.”

Iran's missile capabilities are also a cause of great concern to Saudi Arabia and other regional countries. The CNN reported Friday that it has learned that the US intelligence agencies have assessed that Saudi Arabia, Iran's regional rival, is also now actively manufacturing its own ballistic missiles with the help of China. This can complicate Western efforts to limit Iran’s missile program, as Tehran can claim other regional countries should also give up their ballistic missiles.

In an interview with the Russian news agency Sputnik on Saturday, Mohammad Eslami said that Iran does not intend to enrich uranium to higher levels no matter the results of negotiations aimed at salvaging the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"All our nuclear activities are carried out according to the agreements, statutes and regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency", the AEOI chief stressed.

The JCPOA banned Iran from enriching uranium beyond 3.65 percent, but Tehran argues that because the US left the agreement and imposed sanctions, it is not bound by the limitation.

Tehran says it has increased its stockpile of 60% enriched uranium to 25 kilograms, potentially complicating efforts to revive the nuclear deal with world powers.

"So far we have produced 25 kilograms of 60% uranium, which, except for countries with nuclear weapons, no other country is able to produce," AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi announced early in November.

The next round of Vienna talks to bring Iran and the US back to the deal is scheduled for Monday after seven rounds with no tangible results.

Western powers have expressed grave concern over the acceleration of uranium enrichment closer to weapons grade, saying Iran has "no credible civilian need for enrichment at this level".

IRGC-linked news agency Fars said in a January 24 report that "Europe's destructive measures against an agreement between Iran and world powers is no less than what the United States has been doing to disrupt the talks."

Meanwhile, Farhikhtegan newspaper affiliated with the hardliner-dominated Islamic Azad University, charged in a December 24 report that the three European states including France, Germany and the United Kingdom (the E-3) have been furthering a "destructive policy" since the start of the new round of the Vienna Talks.

The daily said that the objective of the E-3 has been getting more and more concessions from Iran as far as nuclear issues and sanction-related matters are concerned. The daily further charged that the E-3 diplomats have been trying to convince the media that Iranian negotiators lacked a serious will to reach an agreement.

Iran returned to talks with world powers in Vienna on November 29, after it stopped negotiations in June when hardliner Ebrahim Raisi won the presidential vote. After the long delay, Tehran came to talks with new demands which upset the West. The E-3 began issuing warning to Iran to adopt a serious negotiating posture.

Farhikhtegan opined that an agreement leading to peace in the region might deprive France of the benefit of arms sale in the Middle East. Farhikhtegan further claimed that some European states that have been annoyed by France's positions have threatened to start talks with Iran separately. There have been no such reports as both Britain and Germany have also warned Iran, while other European countries are not involved in the matter.

Meanwhile, Fars quoted hardline commentator Vahid Karimi as having said that France's approach is even more destructive than the United States. He said, "As soon as the United States softens its stances, France comes forward and tries to sabotage the talks." He also added that the UK which is no longer part of the EU, is taking advantage of the situation to blackmail the other two European states. He did not offer any evidence or explain how The UK was “blackmailing” France and Germany.

Karimi claimed that the United States no longer attaches importance to Israel's position about the Iranian nuclear issue, and France has replaced Israel as the country that is doing whatever it can to make the talks futile.

In another report, Fars quoted hardline international relations expert Mostafa Khoshchashm as having said that France is playing a dual role in the talks and tries to get concessions from both Iran and other European states.

Khoshchashm agreed with other hardliners that France has replaced Israel by playing the part of the bad cop in the nuclear talks with the Islamic Republic.

Khoshchashm said that now the Western side faces two choices: Leaving the talks and turning their back to diplomacy, which would show they are not interested in the negotiators, or returning to the negotiations while accepting Iran's terms.

Khshchashm also expressed appreciation for "Russia and China's wholehearted support for Iran both in the talks and in the public arena.

IRNA claimed Friday that according to a “European official”, during the last two rounds of talks between Iran and the P4+1 in Vienna, the Iranian negotiating team submitted new written proposals, about 80 percent of which have been considered in an existing draft.

The negotiations “are very difficult,” but as far as they show progress, we can hope that the outcome will be mutually satisfactory, IRNA quoted the official as saying.

In a joint press conference with visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein in Tehran on Thursday, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, “During the recent negotiations in Vienna, we managed to come up with a single draft and a single agenda after two rounds of talks and this was a major progress.”

Talks to salvage the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will resume on Monday [December 27], two parties to the talks announced on Thursday.

The negotiations between Iran, three European countries, Russia and China, which have been underway since April in Vienna have so far not resulted in substantial progress.