The Iranian Labyrinth

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Iran's rights under a (broken) treaty
Can you explain Iran's rights under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty?

The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is a balanced treaty. It has two operating clauses: Clause Four and Clause Six. Clause Four allows the signatory the "inalienable right" to "develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination." In that way every signatory expects assistance of all other signatories to the treaty.

In 1968, when the treaty was drafted, there were five declared nuclear weapons countries: the US, the Soviet Union (then), and Britain, France, and China. Article Six requires that the declared nuclear weapons countries should start disarming and get rid of their arsenal. ... And that has not happened.

Russia's proposal Saturday to enrich uranium for Iran to use in nuclear power plants seems like a step toward resolving nuclear negotiations: Iran would get fuel for civilian power without using the enrichment technology that makes the EU and US suspect Iran of having nuclear weapons ambitions. Why do Iranian officials insist that uranium be enriched inside the country?

Igor Ivanov, the head of the National Security Council of Russia, was in Iran. And he said that he was not bringing in any proposal from the European Union, as had been put out in the news agencies in the Western world -- that there is a compromise and Russia will do the enriching and so on. So he verified the position that he was not doing that.

Power, bombs, and a simple solution
What about this proposal, which seemed not to get a lot of press, that Iran share its nuclear fuel and make its production transparent?

When Ahmadinejad was in New York to attend the General Assembly, ... he offered a proposal that said, We in Iran will open our nuclear facilities to the companies from the public and private sectors of foreign countries. They can come and see what we are doing, and also we will allow much more intrusive presence of the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] inspectors than has been the case so far. ...

They are saying, We will not give up this right, but within that right we will make all kinds of concessions, including allowing companies from the public and private sector to actually see what exactly we are doing. The other thing which Mr. Ahmadinejad said in his interview with CNN in September [was], We want to enrich uranium, of course for peaceful purposes, and sell it to others at a price 30 percent under the market price. So he said, Why should Iran pay for something when it can produce it itself and can sell it on the market? What Iran has been trying to say is that third-world countries, or non-Western countries, are being deprived.

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