Russia has told Iran that it will withhold fuel for Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant unless Tehran suspends its uranium enrichment programme as the United Nations Security Council demands, the New York Times reported on Monday.
The ultimatum was delivered in Moscow last week by Igor Ivanov, the secretary of the Russian National Security Council, to Ali Hosseini Tash, Iran’s deputy chief nuclear negotiator, the newspaper reported, citing European, American and Iranian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
But Tash, who is also deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, denied Russia had issued an ultimatum.
”No, I deny this news and the situation was completely the other way around,” he told state radio on Tuesday. ”Mr Ivanov was trying to convince us that these issues are not related, meaning the Bushehr issue is not related to the nuclear issue.”
The United States State Department had no immediate comment.
A senior European official told the newspaper, ”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 programme are tactical. Fundamentally, the Russians don’t want a nuclear Iran.”
The United Nations Security Council was expected to vote this week to impose new sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, which can be used to generate power and in nuclear bombs.
Tehran ignored a February 21 deadline to suspend its atomic work, insisting the nuclear programme is solely for energy. The West fears Iran is secretly working to build atomic weapons.
In the past month, Russian officials acknowledged that Russia was delaying the delivery of fuel to the reactor in the port city of Bushehr, blaming the decision on the failure of Iran to pay what it owes on the project, not over concerns about nuclear proliferation, the Times said.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told European officials last month that Russia had made a political decision not to deliver the fuel and would say publicly that the sole reason was financial, the report said.
The report on the Times’ website said a senior Iranian official confirmed in an interview that Russia had informed Iran the fuel would be delivered only after Iran’s enrichment of uranium was frozen. – Reuters