Turkey, Brazil seal deal on Iran nuclear fuel swap

[impik]

Source: Reuters

Turkey said on Sunday Iran had agreed on a nuclear fuel swap deal which could help end Tehran's stand-off with the West over its atomic programme.

Full details of the agreement were not immediately released by Turkish and Brazilian officials mediating in Iran's dispute with leading world powers, who suspect Tehran of covertly developing a nuclear bomb.

Turkey's foreign ministry said a formal announcement might be made on Monday after any final revisions by the Brazilian and Iranian presidents and the Turkish prime minister.

"Yes, it has been reached after almost 18 hours of negotiations," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Tehran when asked if there would be an agreement.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64F29P20100516

[Purveyor]

1. Of course this will be unexceptable to israel and the US regardless... eom

[bahrbearian]

3. What the US have to do with this

its all up to Israel, they yank our chain.

[Prometheus Bound]

2. Mrs Clinton sure wanted that deal to fail.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday that Lula's mediation effort would fail.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/iran-and-brazil-reach-deal-with-iran-on-nuclear-fuel-swap-1.290682

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Iran will continue to defy demands to prove its nuclear program is peaceful unless it is hit with a new round of U.N. sanctions.

"Every step along the way has demonstrated clearly to the world that Iran is not participating in the international arena in the way that we had asked them to do and that they continued to pursue their nuclear program," Clinton told reporters.

She also predicted that Silva's mediation effort would not succeed.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jZluJb-MvbCe9kH40FOLYWIYKZCQD9FO4H001

[Peace Patriot]

4. This will be an incredible feat of diplomacy if Lula da Silva and Turkish leaders pull it off.

And it is amazing and beneficial is so many ways, it is difficult to count them. Number one is that it counters the hypocritical politics of confrontation, threats, saber rattling and potential war that Obama/Clinton have adopted from the Bush Junta. Our corporate rulers want control of that oil. Period. That is the issue.

Number two is that Latin America will have "arrived" as in independent actor on the world stage. I think we need to understand that this is not just a Brazilian effort. Brazil's president, for instance, is in complete accord with Venezuela's president, on NOT demonizing Iran and NOT permitting the U.S. to take anybody else's oil, including Brazil's. It was Lula da Silva who said that the U.S. reconstitution of the U.S. 4th Fleet in the Caribbean "is a threat to BRAZIL'S oil" (everybody south of the border knows that it, and the SEVEN new U.S. military bases in Colombia, are a threat to Venezuela's). And it was Lula da Silva who proposed that South America create a "common defense" in the context of their prototype "common market," UNASUR. And it was Lula da Silva who, when Chavez was savaged by the U.S. and the corpo-fascist press for inviting Iran's president to Venezuela, then invited him to Brazil, partly to back up Chavez and to demonstrate that it was a common policy.

The new leftist leadership in Latin America is in accord of several things, several of them not to the liking of our corporate rulers. They include Latin American countries' assertion of sovereign control of their resources, opposition to U.S. policy on Cuba, opposition to the U.S. military buildup in the region, opposition to the rightwing coup in Honduras sneakily backed by the U.S., opposition to slavery to U.S./EU World Bank loan sharks and banksters, and positive pursuit of locally controlled development and social justice--decent wages, education and health care and other bootstrapping for the poor, with natural resource profits spent for those purposes. Lula da Silva, for instance, followed Chavez's lead in demanding that Brazil's new oil find remain in Brazilian government control and that the profits go to social programs. Bolivia's president followed Chavez's lead, and had Chavez government advisers, in his negotiations with multinational gas companies, doubling Bolivia's gas profits which will be used for education, for small pensions for the elderly poor and other social purposes. On the world scene, Latin American leaders want PEACE! In a peaceful world, they stand to become a powerhouse economy of the 21st century because they are INVESTING IN THEIR PEOPLE, like we did in the 1950s and 1960s. In a world of U.S. corporate resource wars, they stand to be one of the victims.

[Prometheus Bound]

5. Almost identical to the deal the West offered, backed by threats and bad faith.

No comment so far from Western "powers" except Germany who has received the news with "caution".

Unbelievable.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the new deal meant Iran was willing to "open a constructive road."

"There is no ground left for more sanctions or pressure," he told reporters in Iran, according to Turkey's private NTV television.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iRqjZV1Meppj40hTs8IBOv4DdsQwD9FOHMF80

Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/17/AR2010051700243.html

[Peace Patriot]

6. No comment from Western powers--cuz Exxon Mobil hasn't told them what their policy is yet?

"... no ground left for more sanctions...".

But how will our government serve their masters now? Maybe by letting all those Diebold Congresscreeps blockade the bill raising the cap on BP's liability for damages? Or by invading Venezuela? (--biggest oil reserve on earth, twice Saudi Arabia's). Or maybe they will start a psyops/disinformation campaign against Lula da Silva and put the U.S. 4th Fleet off Brazil's coast? Big oil find there. (Lulu said that the 4th Fleet is "a threat to Brazil's oil" --a couple of years ago when the Bush Junta reconstituted the 4th Fleet--mothballed since WW II--in the Caribbean.)

We're paying for the Bush Junta's bloodsoaked warmongering now--and additionally paying for Hillary Clinton's sneaky support of the rightwing coup in Honduras which outraged Latin America's new leftist leadership, Lula da Silva in particular.

Where's the oil gonna come from, that the Pentagon sucks up like a vacuum at inflated prices? Who's gonna fuel all those warships, warplanes and war profiteers and "free trade for the rich"?

Ah, me! Our corporate rulers are going to have to get used to a LEVEL PLAYING FIELD!

------------------------------

Case in point. The Chavez government in Venezuela did NOT nationalize Venezuela's oil. That was done prior to Chavez. What the Chavez government did was to renegotiate the contracts with the multinationals, from a 10/90 split of the profits, favoring the multinationals (the giveaway of previous governments), to a 50/50 split, favoring Venezuela and its social programs, with 60/40 Venezuelan control of the projects. Exxon Mobil walked out of those talks and into a "first world" court and tried to grab $12 billion of Venezuela's international cash reserves as punishment. (They lost that round.) Thus we had the spectacle of the richest corporation on earth literally trying to take food out of the mouths of poor children and books out of their hands. Since that time, the Chavez government has signed eight oil companies, from as many countries, plus, recently, China, to develop Venezuela's fabulous oil reserves on Venezuela's terms. One company, Italy's ENI, publicly expressed their joy at getting the business, at the press conference announcing these deals. (Talk about a truly free market!) So Exxon Mobil aced itself out of the biggest oil reserve on earth, by being greedy shits. Their only hope now is riding the U.S. military into Iran or the Colombian and U.S. militaries into Venezuela. They CAN'T STAND A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD, where they have to COMPETE, and where "little people" have RIGHTS. They resort to the Pentagon and the CIA to do their dirty work in the cause of corporate monopoly.

[Prometheus Bound]

7. Oh, I see they are preparing their objections. Potentially 5 in this Reuters article.

my numbers
1. the fuel deal is only part of the problem
2. Iran's low-enriched uranium stockpile has almost doubled since last fall's offer
3. Iran must stop all enrichment
4. may be just a stalling tactic
5. missing details

Is new Iran nuclear swap deal a breakthrough?
Sylvia Westall - Analysis
VIENNA
Mon May 17, 2010 6:47am EDT

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday it had struck a deal with Brazil and Turkey for a nuclear fuel swap but it was far from clear if that was enough to ease international concern over Tehran's atomic ambitions and avert new sanctions.

.......

* FOCUS ON FUEL DEAL

Diplomats say it is encouraging that Iran now appears to be accepting a swap outside Iranian soil and allowing the amount of low-enriched uranium -- enough for a single bomb if purified to a high enough level -- to be shipped out in one batch.

1. But they said Iran was trying to give the impression that it was the fuel deal which was at the center of problems with the West, rather than its nuclear ambitions as a whole.

"The deal is not the reason why Tehran is in trouble. It is the whole nature of the Iranian nuclear program and its refusal to answer questions," a Western diplomat said.

2. Western diplomats also said removing 1,200 kg is less valuable now because in the months of wrangling over the original IAEA deal, Iran's low-enriched uranium stockpile has almost doubled.

* WHAT ABOUT HIGHER ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES?

Iran started higher enrichment in February, saying it would produce fuel itself. The escalation is a worry for the West because it brings Iran's enrichment closer to the levels needed to make bomb-grade material.

3. Diplomats say the West will likely dismiss the proposal if Iran continues to enrich uranium to higher levels.

Iran's atomic agency chief has said Iran would stop producing 20 percent-enriched uranium if it received fuel from abroad. But in recent talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna this idea was rejected.

"If they refuse to stop enriching to 20 percent and make this proposal for fuel, then why are they continuing the higher enrichment? There is no other peaceful justification," a Western diplomat said.

"This would be a deal-breaker," another said.

* WEST WANTS TO SEE THE FINE PRINT

4. The new proposal may allow U.N. Security Council members to argue against a fourth round of sanctions but until there are more details, Western powers are unlikely to be convinced this is more than a stalling tactic, diplomats said.

...
5. Among the missing details are the questions of who will enrich the material to higher levels and who will make the fuel assemblies.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE64G2TP20100517

[Judi Lynn]

8. Iran Offers to Ship Uranium as Talks on Sanctions Loom

Iran Offers to Ship Uranium as Talks on Sanctions Loom
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Published: May 17, 2010

CAIRO — Iran announced an agreement on Monday to ship some of its nuclear fuel to Turkey in a deal that could offer a short-term solution to its ongoing nuclear standoff with the West, or prove to be a tactic aimed at derailing efforts to bring new sanctions against Tehran.

The deal, negotiated by Turkey and Brazil, calls for Iran to ship 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of low enriched uranium to Turkey, where it would be stored. In exchange, after one year, Iran would have the right to receive about 265 pounds of material enriched to 20 percent from Russia and France.

The terms mirror a deal with the West last October that fell apart when Iran backtracked. But it is far from clear that the Obama administration will agree to it now — in part because Iran has continued to enrich uranium, adding to its stockpiles.

In October, the 2,640 pounds that Iran was supposed to ship out of the country represented about two-thirds of its stockpile of nuclear fuel — enough to ensure that it would not retain sufficient nuclear material to make a weapon.

But now, the same amount of fuel accounts for a smaller proportion of its declared stockpile.

According to a Western diplomat who spoke in return for anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters, the amount of low-enriched uranium that Iran was prepared to ship to Turkey was believed to represent a little more than half its current stockpile.

“The situation has changed,” the diplomat said.

The agreement could well undermine the Obama administration’s chances of securing international approval for punitive measures against Iran. China and Russia, which have been highly reluctant to impose sanctions on a major trading partner, could use the announcement to end discussions about further measures, representing a fourth round of sanctions.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/world/middleeast/18iran.html?ref=world

[Prometheus Bound]

9. US: Iran Nuclear Deal Will Not Slow UN Sanctions Drive

17 May 2010
The United States is skeptical of the nuclear fuel swap agreement announced on Monday in which Iran says it will ship enriched uranium to Turkey. President Barack Obama's spokesman says the agreement will not slow the drive for a new U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution.

The White House and State Department issued similar responses to the deal in which Tehran agrees to send about 1,200 kilograms of enriched uranium to Turkey. In return, Iran would receive medium-enriched uranium for use in a medical research reactor.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs acknowledged efforts by Turkey and Brazil, saying it would be a positive step for Iran to transfer low-enriched uranium as it agreed to do in October of last year.

But noting Iran's announcement that it will continue its 20 percent enrichment program, Gibbs said there is no change in the administration's position on Iran's nuclear program, or President Obama's determination to achieve a new U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution. "It does not change the steps that we are taking to hold Iran responsible for its obligations, including sanctions," he said.
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/West-Skeptical-About-Irans-Fuel-Swap-Deal--93960164.html