It would appear that Iran had indeed set a deadline for negotiation on nuclear fuel exchange. The Islamic Republic announced today (Tuesday February 9) that it “began enriching uranium to a level of 20 percent at its Natanz enrichment facility under the surveillance of inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog.”
Iran says that it needs the enriched uranium for its medical facility in Tehran. The Tehran research reactor produces 20 different types of medical isotopes for cancer patients. The laboratory is fueled by 20 percent-enriched U-235. It also indicated that it will not enrich uranium beyond the 20% level.
Iran’s AEOI Director, Ali-Akbar Salehi, said that “the enrichment started on Tuesday in a separate cascade from the production line that enriches uranium in Natanz. We opened a new cascade, called S8, in Natanz which is more on a lab scale." He also added that the doors are still open for talks about nuclear fuel swap. “The beginning of the enrichment is not tantamount to the end of interaction and negotiations on a UN-brokered proposal on fuel swap," he said.
Reacting to the announcement, the United States said that the United Nations Security Council should move quickly to enforce sanctions on Iran and asked that a resolution be approved "within weeks, not months."
France, too, called for action: "The only thing that we can do, alas, is apply sanctions given that negotiations are not possible," said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
Although Russia is open to “consider” strengthening existing sanctions, China appears to be reluctant. Although China’s position has consistently favored diplomatic solution the Iranian nuclear matter, the Chinese government may now exert more resistance to any new sanctions in the light of the U.S.’s decision to sell more arms to Taiwan.
Immediately after the announcement of the $6.4bn arms deal with Taiwan, the Chinese Foreign Ministry imposed sanctions on US companies involved in the deal. The usually measured Chinese diplomats then released a flurry of strong statements condemning the American decision. Specifically, the Foreign Ministry stated that "It will be unavoidable that co-operation between China and the United States over important international and regional issues will also be affected."
All these developments indicate that the nuclear issue will not be resolved in the near future and it will continue to transform the political map of the region.
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