Iranian negotiators are meeting with Western officials Monday in Vienna to discuss a compromise on halting the Islamic Republic's nuclear development activities. Although the West comes to the table with a plan to enrich Iran's uranium abroad in an effort to control its use, Tehran may have other plans.
Monday's talks were agreed upon two weeks ago during a meeting with Western officials in Geneva. Negotiators hope to settle upon a plan that will reassure the West that Iran is not engaged in building an atomic weapon. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has often vowed to annihilate the Jewish State, which he has referred to in public speeches as a "malignant tumor," among various other epithets.
Enrich Iranian Uranium Abroad, or Sanctions
The current proposal focuses on opening Iran's nuclear plants more transparently to IAEA inspections, including the facility at Qom -- a previously undisclosed underground uranium enrichment site. In addition, Russia and France will also enrich Iran's uranium and turn it into fuel rods to power its various nuclear energy plants, on the presumption that Iran will not do so itself.
The advantage: such a process would expedite Iran's nuclear power development. The plan would also force Iran to use its nuclear power precisely for what it claimed it to be -- domestic energy intended for peaceful purposes.
The threat: if Tehran does not agree, Western nations, including the United States, say they will move ahead with a plan to impose increased economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Such measures would include a ban on Iranian petroleum imports, a move that would further cripple the Iranian economy.
Iran Unfazed Over Sanctions Threat
But Ali Shirzadian, spokesman for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, warned "If the talks do not bring about Iran's desired result... we will start to further enrich uranium ourselves." Shirzadian said.
The spokesman told the official Iranian IRNA news agency a few hours before meeting with negotiators from the IAEA, Russia, France and the United States that Iran had no intention of halting its uranium enrichment activities. "Buying nuclear fuel from abroad does not mean that Iran will stop its uranium enrichment activities inside the country," he told the official IRNA news agency.
The meeting, to be held at the offices of the United Nations IAEA nuclear watchdog agency, comes on the heels of the most serious terrorist attack ever on Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards security force. Three days of official mourning began Monday to honor the victims of the bombing.
Five senior commanders were assassinated by a suicide bomber who blew himself up in a southeastern region of the country. At least 42 people died and 28 others were wounded. Iran accused "foreign elements" -- specifically, the United States and Britain, of involvement in the attack. The Jundallah (Soldiers of God), a group comprised of Sunni Muslims from the Baluchi ethnic minority, claimed responsibility for the attack late in the day.