EDITORIAL: Iran's nuclear deal

Claims have been made that if Iran continues its uranium enrichment program at the current pace, it will gain nuclear weapons capability in several years. Seeking to halt that threat, Western nations and their allies are preparing a new resolution on sanctions at the U.N. Security Council. At the Review Conference for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, now under way in New York, Iran and the United States have been slugging it out verbally.

Is there any way out of this impasse?

Amid heightened tensions, Iran announced Monday that it has agreed to a compromise plan, brokered by Brazil and Turkey and aimed at a peaceful settlement of the situation. Though this plan will not immediately resolve all pending issues, Tehran's move to ease anxiety through diplomatic channels heralds a new development. We hope this represents the first step toward a final solution through diplomatic efforts.

Under the deal, Iran says it will ship 1.2 tons of low-enriched uranium with a 3.5-percent concentration to neighboring Turkey. In exchange, Tehran will receive 120 kilograms of processed nuclear fuel rods with uranium enriched to 20 percent, purportedly for use in a medical research reactor.

Testifying before the U.S. Congress last month, a senior U.S. military officer forecast that Iran is on the way to obtaining, within one year, enough highly-enriched uranium to build a nuclear weapon. After that, a functional nuclear warhead could be produced in three to five years, the officer said. Shipping out 1.2 tons of low-enriched uranium, however, would delay Iran's attempt to obtain sufficient uranium to produce a nuclear weapon.

In pursuing the proposed fuel swap deal, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva held talks in Iran with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Iranian cleric subsequently appeared on Iranian television to praise the mediation diplomacy. This might signal a shift by Iran's conservative guard, which had remained opposed to transferring uranium out of the nation, to a more flexible stance. The fact that the uranium will be sent not to Western nations, but rather to predominantly Muslim neighboring Turkey, is also impetus for winning over Iranian public opinion.

How should the international community perceive and act upon this deal?

Iran has repeatedly failed to honor its word in the past. For the large part, Western nations remain wary. They harbor suspicion over Tehran's declaration that it will continue to enrich uranium, even while opting for the nuclear fuel swap. To seize this deal as a foothold toward a diplomatic settlement and regain trust in the eyes of the international community, Iran must first unequivocally demonstrate through its actions the intent to use the uranium for peaceful purposes alone.

For that matter, the low-enriched uranium apparently bound for Turkey is not the entire supply. Iran is said to have some 2 tons of the material. While shipping off 1.2 tons can be expected to slow the pace of its nuclear development program, doubts remain over Tehran's decision not to include its entire uranium stockpile in the deal.

Continuing the enrichment program, meanwhile, will inevitably cause the stockpile to grow again. Any guarantee of peaceful use requires that all the uranium be routed outside of Iranian territory, while halting the enrichment work. Terms toward that end must be hammered out through diplomatic channels.

Both Brazil and Turkey are currently nonpermanent members of the Security Council. We hope that permanent council members and Germany, which have principally handled the negotiations with Iran to date, will bolster their cooperation with Brazil and Turkey in a serious push to win over Tehran.

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 19