Iran urges US, Russia to back nuke fuel deal

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad smiles during the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference on May 3, 2010 at the United Nations in New York City. Photograph: Getty Images

TEHRAN - Iran's hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged the United States and Russia Wednesday to back a nuclear fuel deal, warning it would be the last "opportunity" to resolve the atomic standoff.



"The Tehran declaration (on a fuel swap) is the best opportunity. We took an important step and said something very important. There are no excuses left," Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech, addressing US and Russian leaders.



US President Barack Obama "should bear in mind that if he does not use this opportunity, Iranians are unlikely to give him a new chance," he said, as world powers mulled new sanctions against Iran despite the fuel deal brokered by Brazil and Turkey earlier this month.



Western governments have been dismissive of the agreement, arguing that the international community needs to keep up the pressure on Tehran to heed UN Security Council demands over its nuclear programme.



Ahmadinejad lashed out at Russian President Dmitry Medvedev over Moscow's position on the nuclear issue, accusing Iran's longtime trade partner of "siding with those who have been our enemy for 30 years."



"We hope Russian officials will pay attention, make amends and not let Iranians put them in the line of their historic enemies," Ahmadinejad said.



Despite strong energy and defence ties with Iran, Russia has backed a new sanctions drive at the UN Security Council which has issued repeated ultimatums for Iran to freeze uranium enrichment.



Iran is already under three sets of UN sanctions over its refusal to suspend the sensitive process, which lies at the centre of Western fears that the programme is cover for a drive for a nuclear weapon.



Iran denies any such ambition insisting the programme is for power generation and medical purposes only.



On Monday, Iran formally notified the International Atomic Energy Agency of its agreement to the nuclear fuel swap deal, under which it would ship some low enriched uranium to Turkey in return for higher grade fuel for a Tehran research reactor.



US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Iran's letter to the UN watchdog had "a number of deficiencies."



"The agreement... between Iran, Brazil and Turkey only occurred because the Security Council was on the brink of publicly releasing the text of the resolution we've been negotiating for many weeks," Clinton said on Tuesday.



Washington has forged a compromise on a new draft sanctions resolution at the Security Council which it says has the support of all five veto-wielding permanent members including China, a close ally and energy partner of Iran.



In a televised press conference on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki branded Clinton's comments "faulty" and "propagandist," insisting the "Tehran accord will benefit all sides."



The IAEA has yet to comment on the deal but specialists have said the accord has a key technical flaw as it fails to allocate enough time to make the fuel.



According to a text of the joint declaration carried by Tehran media, Iran expects to receive the 20-percent enriched uranium for reactor fuel within a year of depositing its low-enriched uranium in Turkey.



Iran's archfoe Israel, which is the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, has accused Tehran of "trickery" in the nuclear deal in a bid to ward off international sanctions.



Shortly after signing the accord, Iran vowed to press on with the higher level 20-percent enrichment which it started in February despite international concern.