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Iran Nuke Deal Details
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The Daily Beast's Michael Adler reports that the "steps to build confidence" announced Thursday are more concrete than Obama revealed. Iran has agreed to ship enriched uranium to Russia for processing, leaving it without enough to make a bomb.
President Obama’s statement about a confidence-building measure from Iran this afternoon left out the key detail: In a breakthrough agreement at talks in Geneva, Iran has agreed to send 1,200 kilograms of enriched uranium to Russia for further processing, two diplomats told The Daily Beast, noting this would mean Iran no longer has enough uranium to make a nuclear weapon.
The promised move by Iran would seem to clear the way to serious talks. “It’s a major advance if they keep their word,” a diplomat said.
The deal that Obama alluded to—leaving out the key details, first reported by The Daily Beast, that the third country involved was Russia, and the quantity of uranium involved constituted most of Iran’s stockpile—would leave Iran with only 300 kilograms of enriched uranium.
Washington fears Iran is using an allegedly civilian program to develop nuclear weapons. Enriched uranium can be used to make fuel for nuclear reactors, but also the explosive core of atom bombs.
The agreement was reached at talks in Geneva Thursday between Iran and six major powers—the United States, China, Britain, France, Russia, and Germany. The talks were the first since July 2008, part of a negotiating process pitting U.S.-led states against Iran that has sputtered and stalled since secret Iranian nuclear sites were revealed in August 2002. “The potential advantage of this, if it’s implemented, is that it would significantly reduce Iran’s [low-enriched uranium] stockpile, which itself is a source of anxiety in the Middle East and elsewhere,” a senior U.S. official in Geneva told reporters, adding that the International Atomic Energy Agency, a U.N. watchdog, would meet in Vienna on October 18 to try to iron out the details with Iran.
• The Daily Beast’s Reihan Salam: America Is Getting Hustled
• The Daily Beast’s Reza Aslan: Naïve Obama Gets Iran Results
• Gary Sick: Real Progress with Iran Iran’s standoff with the West has become urgent, because Iran has now amassed an estimated 1,500 kilograms of low-enriched uranium—enough to process further into an atomic bomb. The deal that Obama alluded to—leaving out the key details, first reported by The Daily Beast, that the third country involved was Russia, and the quantity of uranium involved constituted most of Iran’s stockpile—would leave Iran with only 300 kilograms of enriched uranium, even though it continues to make more. Iran can produce roughly 80 to 90 kilograms of enriched uranium a month at its enrichment facility in Natanz, the only one known to be running in the country.
According to the U.S. official, Iran said it was running out of fuel to power a research reactor in Tehran, which makes radio-isotopes for medicine. Under the deal reached today, diplomats told The Daily Beast, Russia will now take the majority of Iran’s stockpile, which is enriched only up to 3.5 percent, and refine it up to 19.75 percent. That new enrichment level is suitable to power the Tehran reactor, but not high enough for nuclear weapons. The official said France would take the enriched uranium from Russia and turn it into the actual fuel, further safeguarding that it would not be repurposed to make atom bombs. France would then ship this fuel to Iran.
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Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
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Michael Adler, a longtime reporter for Agence France-Presse, is currently a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and is writing a book on Iran’s nuclear diplomacy, which he has covered for most of this decade.
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Michael Adler, a longtime reporter for Agence France-Presse, is currently a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and is writing a book on Iran’s nuclear diplomacy, which he has covered for most of this decade.
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Michael Adler, a longtime reporter for Agence France-Presse, is currently a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and is writing a book on Iran’s nuclear diplomacy, which he has covered for most of this decade.
ccrider27
A very concise and well written article about a major breakthrough.
But there is one issue that I can't seem to find any documentation for, and it seems a critical one to me. It is my understanding that a minimal number of working centrifuges are required to process the uranium into bomb grade.
Is it true that Iran, so far as anyone knows, does not possess the requisite number of working centrifuges and therefore could not possibly have been working on a bomb?
Garvagh
Ccrider27: Fewer centrifuges would mean each would have to work longer, to enrich a given amount of U-235; 5% or lower is appropriate for nuclear fuel for a power station generating electricty. The issue is non-diversion of nuclear materials, so that further enrichment to 90% or more would be possible. So far, the IAEA has confirmed no diversion of nuclear materialls has taken place.
newswoman
Who cares? The thing is that Iran has made CONCESSIONS and that is the best thing we could hope for to avert a war. It is obvious they don't want one and we don't either. That should be enough.
cormart
I don't think it is a concession, it's a deal. The leaders in Iran are forcing themselves upon the Iranian people and will do anything to stay in power. So making a deal with another country could just help them stay in place.
clearthinker
medical purposes?? Oh sure, I believe him.
daniel66
Thank you.....I agree, maybe it was the fact that Iran is actually enriching uranium. The fact they were doing this was unknown, now we are supposed to believe them when they tell us they don't have enough to make weapons?
Gimme a break!
Garvagh
Daniel66: Are you trying to say that the "new" facility outside Qom in fact was already enriching uranium, unknown to the IAEA?
newswoman
We have to start somewhere and believing the Iranians is a start. (We can probably verify with satellite information). We did this with Russia and it worked, because they didn't want war and neither did we. I'm sure some people said we couldn't trust the Russians, but we did, probably with some verification, and a hideous war was averted. That is the important thing.
tunejunky
this is more than (un)common sense. this formula saves face, allows the I.A.E.A. to do its job, and lays the ground work for full relations.
bravo Mr. President, well done.
gak001
Hear, hear!
Timbo52
tunejunky: You can't be serious, right. Iran has had this secret installation for several years and only admitted it once they were about to be outed. My guess is they were tipped off by the Russians after Obama told them he knew about it.
How do we know that they don't have more uranium (or will be getting more) than we think and how do we know that they don't have other facilities ? These guys haven't told an honest story in what, forever. Now everything is going to be great, time for a group hug, the worlds problems are over!
Think I'll have to take a wait and see on this one but I'm glad you feel better.
gak001
If you'd done your homework, you'd know that we've known about Qom for years. Surely you have more faith in Central Intelligence than that!
newswoman
I understand we have known about the new facility outside of Qom for YEARS.
democracyforall
Russia has been complicit from day one. They want uranium.
From the beginning of 1990s, Russian Federation formed a joint research organization with Iran called Persepolis which provided Iran with Russian nuclear experts, and technical information stolen from the West by GRU and SVR, according to GRU defector Stanislav Lunev. He said that five Russian institutions, including the Russian Federal Space Agency helped Tehran to improve its missiles. The exchange of technical information with Iran was personally approved by the SVR director Trubnikov.
In 1995, Iran signed a contract with Russia to resume work on the partially-complete Bushehr plant, installing into the existing Bushehr I building a 915MWe VVER-1000 pressurized water reactor, with completion expected in 2009.
Iran is rich with uranium mines. This deal stops nothing.
gak001
Well I shee there'sh no pleashing you, Mr. Powersh.
Garvagh
Democracyforall: You should have also mentioned that Russia is to supply the nuclear fuel for the initial plant at Bushehr, and that Russia will keep control over that fuel (returning it to Russia for reprocessing). Russian control of the nuclear fuel prevents any diversion into a military purpose.
democracyforall
Russia will be 40% Muslim in a few years. The Muslims will do whatever they want.
gak001
And democracyforall has just revealed himself to be an ethnocentric bigot.
sonofloud
The Top Ten things you didn't know about Iran:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/10/01/cole/index.html
sophia5
"Iran Nuke Deal Details"
Obama is too busy
"Community Organizing" HIS Olympic's Campaign.
RVGrandpa
What's wrong with his leaving the country overnight to bring thousands of jobs to the midwest? Since the rethugs are sitting and refusing to work on health care, he has other thing going on. Better than a trip to Crawford. Nothing much more to criticize, huh?
Ritarita
Sophia's
Just a frump.
Get used to it.
gak001
And once again you've revealed a complete ignorance of the basic concepts of community organization and the job of the president.
rodtanner
But ignorance is the right-wing's stock in trade. Worse, they seem to be proud of it.
gak001
Ignorance is bliss. Though in all fairness, we have a few ignorant fools roaming around under the left banner.
WestVillager
Aww, come on. Really?!?
ComeOnAmerica
Don't you all ever get tired of being angry and bitter? Your hatred is so thick that you can't even acknowledge that OUR President accomplished a very positive step here. I thought the reich wing is all about national security and that the President is weak on those matters. And besides, many community organizations clean up the mess created my politicians.
My God, you people should quit whining, complaining and condemning all the man does. Either get with the rest of the country or get out of the way.
Timbo52
What the heck are you talking about. This site is one that put angry and bitter on the map so you can save that drivel. Now, the President does deserve his due on this but let's be real. First your post makes it sound like he was the only one there or set the whole thing up by himself. Second do you really think that everything is going to be all rosy now. This will do nothing but provide Iran with some breathing room to find their new hiding place.
Are you referring to upstanding community organizers like Acorn? Please
I hope everyday that Obama does something I can feel good about but there hasn't been too many of those days so far.
This "could" be a positive step but let's not get to excited until we see what this group of liars (Iran) does, not what they say. We have been down that road with them for many, many years.
By the way, you must know some rest of the country that I don't. Look at the poll numbers before you start telling anyone to get out of the way, your not on the side, sorry.
Sunshine and Daises to you though. Have a Great Day
njoy-d-ride
Problem I have with this is that it's too good too soon. Sounds like a decoy to throw us off their trail.
Its a funny sequence:
1) Launch test missiles.
2) Give up enriched uranium.
Comming from a country that has hidden it's nuclear facilities this just sounds wierd. How can we ever be sure that they don't have a cache of Weapons - grade enriched uranium.
Nobodyreally
Sophia you and yours are such a sad joke. You savior Bush prior to 9/11 spent almost 40% of his time in Crawford clearing brush and where was the outrage then.
Obama has been basically non-stop since day 1, and this is all you can say?
You need to get some substance in your arguments. You nit picking is lame and you know it. It's a deep seated hate that drives you isn't it? It's not healthy.
America won, your guy lost, get over it. Sore loser.
Mauiboy
Gee whiz. It's too bad that we didn't NEGOTIATE with Iraq to get the WMD inspectors back to work to determine that Saddam Hussein didn't have any, instead of starting a war that we find very difficult to extract ourselves from eight years later. George W. was more interested in blowing stuff up!
frankopr
I see what you did there, Sophia.
Cause he was a community organizer and now he's campaigning for the Olympics, right? Right?
ccrider27
So nobody has any objective information on centrifuges. The critical element in the whole entire puzzle.
Just opinion and vitriol.
What a country!
Garvagh
Ccrider27: The weekend Financial Times (Sept. 26-27) had excellent reporting on the centrifuges used in Iran to enrich U-235.
unsuiatlarge
"What's wrong with his leaving the country overnight to bring thousands of jobs to the mid-west"?
Obama did it. Therefor it stands to reason that it must bad/socialistic/Fascist/communistic and downright evil.
Garvagh
Iran had raised the possibility it could purchase the enriched uranium from the US or France. This Russian deal makes excellent sense.
OldCrow
What prevents Iran from further enriching the U235 that Russia returns to make it weapons grade? A 'cascade' system like Iran has, is capable.
You can make a crude nuclear weapon with 18-20% U235 (like Russia will return to Iran).
Garvagh
OldCrow: The French will be doing the further enrichment of the U-235 from Iran, and the IAEA will have access to the medical reactor for which the U-235 is intended.
OldCrow
Garvagh:
Okay, as long as the IAEA has full access, this looks favorable then.
GrannyRob
Russia and Iran working together because at the behest of the great one -- this is news? Seems to me they were all working together to begin with ... and against any world leaders of freedom.
newswoman
Get over yourself, GrannyRob. We worked with the Russians to de-esculate tensions about nuclear war and IT WORKED. I applaud the Russian presidents and the American presidents for achieving peace between the two powers who could have precipitated WW3. Now we will work with the Iranians who I am sure don't want war either.
BTW, you only called President Obama 'The Great One'. What happened to the 'Messiah' or the 'Chosen One?; Are you losing your faith in him?
rhonda1309
laughing all the way, in a one-horse open sleigh! and they gave Barry their word!
They are picking up dead kids every morning in Chicago, great idea, lets invite the world there to have a party. How many tourist are gonna get robbed and murdered by Chi town thugs? Does the Acorn-n-chief care or does he just need a "win"
slayer2369
Sigh, no matter what this guy does, rhonda will be there front and center to piss all over it. You just can't make everyone happy.
spincycle
I agree with those who say this is a creative solution to a horrendously difficult problem ... but ... transporting ANY kind of uranium is dangerous, let along enriched uranium. What makes us think the bozos supervising that operation will know what they are doing?
This whole topic makes me queasy and wondering - when are we as a global community going to get past atom-smashing altogether? Jeez - it's so 1980. We don't need it to solve global warming - that's a myth. No atom-smashing, no nuclear weapons. It's about that simple.
Garvagh
GrannyRob: Who are the "world leaders of freedom" that you think the Russians and Iranians are working against?
neverlate
So judging from the Obama victory hoopla at TDB I can only assume that Iran agreed to pull the cord on their centrifuges?
Maybe the cult of personality actually works.
WestVillager
Obama isn't the only actor in this. He's trying to improve a potentially scary situation in partnership. That's his goulash and it could be better for all of us instead of only us. It's really not a bummer for our president to do well.
Thank you.
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