New nuke ‘deal’ on the table can save Iran’s face, give India room

As per the deal, the paper reported, Iran will be allowed to convert raw uranium ore into industrial gas but must ship it to Russia for enrichment into power reactor fuel. To assure Tehran of uninterrupted fuel supplies, Iran would be offered a financial stake in the Russian enrichment plant.

“There is no proposal,” US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Reuters, “I don’t want to get into any further details over what may be being contemplated by the parties to the negotiations.”

But, the paper reported, IAEA Director General Mohammad ElBaradei discussed the deal with Rice and is expected to convey this new offer to Iran and demand a response from Tehran within two weeks. If Iran signs on, there will be no need for a second vote at the IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna on November 24. If Iran, however, chooses confrontation there will be little reason for India to be defensive about its vote next time in favour of preventing Tehran’s proliferation.

The US and its European allies will then demand that IAEA refer Iranian recalcitrance to the United Nations Security Council for further action that could begin with economic sanctions.

Official sources here refused to confirm that India was consulted on the proposed nuclear compromise. But India, which has every reason to avoid a confrontation between its friends in Tehran and Washington, has been active in recent international nuclear consultations on Iran.

In the last few weeks, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran has held discussions with US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns in New Delhi as well as Russian and Iranian officials in Moscow.

While the Left parties step up the pressure on the Manmohan Singh government to reverse its September vote against Iran at the IAEA, the international attempts at compromise could help vindicate Indian diplomacy.

India has reasons to be satisfied that the period since the IAEA vote on September has been used to hammer out a potential deal. With the US and Europe taking a step forward with Russian support, India hopes Iran would reciprocate.

The only remaining difference is on the location of the uranium enrichment facility. Iran wants to enrich uranium on its own soil.

This latest proposal is not too far away from Tehran’s own offer, articulated by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the United Nations in September, to let foreign entities take a financial stake in its national enrichment facility. Given many unresolved questions about Iran’s compliance with its nuclear obligations, the international community is uncomfortable with a possible national enrichment plant that could be used produce material for nuclear bombs.

If Iran now continues to insist on its “legal rights” as opposed to “functional requirements” of energy security, the suspicion that Tehran is less interested in nuclear power and more in making nuclear weapons would be strengthened.