October 5, 2012
Report: U.S. rejected Iranian plan on nukes
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A security official stands in front of the Bushehr nuclear reactor, 746 miles south of Tehran, on Aug. 21, 2010. Photo by REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi
Iranian officials reportedly offered a nine-step plan to defuse the nuclear crisis with the West that was rejected by U.S. officials.
The Iranian offer was to gradually suspend the production of uranium that can quickly be converted to military use. But American officials dismissed the proposal as unworkable because it requires too many concessions by the West, including the dismantling of all sanctions before uranian enrichment would cease, The New York Times reported. The plan calls for a step-by-step lifting of sanctions while the Iranians end work at one of two sites producing highly enriched uranium. Once the Iranians reach the last step, and the sanctions have been entirely lifted, there would be a suspension of the medium-enriched uranium production at the Fordow underground site, according to the plan, the Times reported.
Obama administration officials told the Times that the deal was intended to generate headlines but would not guarantee that Iran could not produce a weapon.
“The way they have structured it, you can move the fuel around, and it stays inside the country,” the Times quoted an unnamed senior Obama administration official as saying. The official said the nuclear program could be restarted in a "nanosecond...they don't have to answer any questions from the inspectors."
