Iran and the United States are in talks to extend the ceasefire to begin negotiations on issues such as Tehran's nuclear program. IAEA head Rafael Grossi announced that if Iran and the US reach an agreement on the nuclear program, Kazakhstan is ready to accept Iranian resources of highly enriched uranium.
Officially, the authorities in Tehran declare that they will not give up their uranium resources, but – as “FT” reports, citing people familiar with the course of peace negotiations – they will probably start talks on diluting the fissile material or transferring it abroad.
US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that stockpiles of enriched uranium would be extracted by the US in coordination with Iran and the IAEA and then destroyed.
See also: How will the war in Iran end? The market is pricing in one scenario
There is a new buyer for Iranian uranium
In Kazakhstan there is a bank of low-enriched uranium controlled by the international community, where the material is stored for the needs of nuclear power plants in IAEA member countries, explains Reuters.
Kazakh President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev and Russian leader Vladimir Putin signed an agreement on Thursday to build the first nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan. The power plant is to be built mainly by the Russian company Rosatom. The investment cost is estimated at approximately USD 15 billion, of which approximately 85 percent is to be financed with a Russian loan.
In the past, Russia has declared its willingness to take over Iranian uranium. The offer was upheld after the outbreak of war in the Middle East.
See also: Russia on Iranian uranium. Putin's offer is still valid
Highly enriched uranium in Iran
Although Iran's uranium enrichment infrastructure was largely destroyed or severely damaged when Israel and the United States bombed it in June, much of the highly enriched uranium stockpiled there is believed to have survived. This is the biggest problem for the US ahead of nuclear talks.
On Friday, Trump wrote on social media that Iran must agree to “discover” and destroy enriched uranium buried underground as a result of previous U.S. attacks.
Two of three Iranian enrichment centers known to be operating at the time of the Israeli-US attack in June were underground. The ground area was obviously destroyed.
Iran has not informed the U.N. nuclear watchdog about the fate of its enriched uranium since the June attacks, nor has it allowed inspectors to return to its storage sites.
According to Reuters, the International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that when the first Israeli bombs were dropped on June 13, Iran had the following quantities:
— 440.9 kg enriched up to 60%.
— 184.1 kg enriched up to 20%.
— 6024.4 kg enriched to 5%.
— 2,391.1 kg enriched to 2%.
Nuclear deal with Iran
President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal between Iran and major powers that kept Tehran much further away from being able to produce a nuclear bomb than it is now. The U.S. withdrawal in 2018 led to the end of the deal, and Iran quickly expanded its nuclear program.
The international transport of nuclear materials such as highly enriched uranium is a delicate but relatively routine procedure.
“It requires some precautions, but it can be moved,” Grossi said in an interview with PBS in March, when asked about material enriched up to 60 percent.
Source: Reuters, PAP
