Iran: Larijani Confirms Arrival of Yellow Cake Consignment at Esfahan UCF

Iran: Larijani Confirms Arrival of Yellow Cake Consignment at Esfahan UCF Mehr News Agency WWW-Text Friday, November 18, 2005

Tehran Mehr News Agency WWW-Text in Persian at 1106 GMT on 18 November carries a 1,500-word report on a news conference by Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, following the signing of a security agreement with Iraq in Tehran on 17 November.

After reporting Larijani's remarks as outlined in referent item, the news agency notes:

"Questioned about a report concerning the arrival of a consignment of yellow cake at Esfahan's UCF installation for processing, he (Larijani) said: This report is not new; and it was declared before that we had made such a request with the agency (IAEA), and the job was done.

"The secretary of the Supreme National Security Council denied any secret negotiations with Britain about renewed suspension of the UCF (activities) in Esfahan."

OSC London Bureau will file the text of Mehr's report on Larijani's news conference for release by 1600 GMT.

(Description of Source: Tehran Mehr News Agency in Persian -- Launched on 22 June 2003, its managing director Parviz Esma'ili stated that the news agency primarily aims at promoting the Islamic culture.)

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Is this the agency, UCF, you were asking about? Or another?

From here:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GH02Ak02.html

(snip)

New president handed a nuclear confrontation
By Safa Haeri

PARIS - Incoming Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad, who takes office August 3, has been given a hand-made and potentially explosive crisis by outgoing President Mohammad Khatami.

Iran announced at the weekend that it would end its indefinite suspension of uranium enrichment, nuclear fuel reprocessing and related activities as Tehran had not received compromise proposals as promised by the European Three ( EU-3 - Germany, Britain and France) who are negotiating with Iran.

The EU immediately branded the move "unnecessary and damaging" and one which could derail their talks.

Iranian analysts interpret the move as an indication of the pressures that the conservatives will put on Ahmadinejad for the full resumption of nuclear activities, at the price of stopping talks with the EU-3 and even getting out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to which Iran is a signatory.

Iran said that it would start activities at the Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) in the central city of Esfahan "before the end of the mandate of outgoing President Mohammad Khatami".

Iran said it had informed the EU-3 about its decision to resume activities at the UCF - suspended since last November under an accord reached in Paris with the troika - during a meeting late last week in Tehran between the ambassadors of the Big 3 and Hussein Moussavian, one of Iran's senior nuclear negotiators.

"Since the Big 3 has failed to honor its Paris engagements, the Islamic republic has decided to resume activities at Esfahan's UCF as from this week and before the end of the mandate of the present government," the influential Fars news agency reported.

Quoting an "informed source", Fars, which is close to the leadership, added that Iran had informed the Vienna-based United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about its intentions and a member of the negotiating team was already on his way to hand the letter to the IAEA.

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