Iran offers the hand of the UAE and Saudi Arabia for Nuclear Collaboration

Iran is reported by the newspaper New York Timeswho refers to four unnamed Iranian officials, proposed to the United States of America the establishment of a joint company to enrich Uranus. Regional Arab countries are expected to participate in this company, and the project would also include US investments. Tehran is said to see this plan as an alternative to Washington’s requirements after the complete decomposition of the Iranian nuclear program.

According to Iranian sources, the Foreign Minister is Abas Aragci the proposal presented to the US special envoy Steve Witkoff Among the direct and indirect conversations that took place last Sunday in Oman. Nevertheless, spokesman Steva Witkoff is a spokesman, Eddie Vasquez after New York Times strongly denied that such an idea would be part of the conversations. « The assertion of unnamed sources that the idea of ​​a joint company to enrich Uranus was part of the last round of conversations with Iran in Oman is completely untrue, » Vasquez said, adding that they had never discussed it.

Notwithstanding the US denial, several Iranian media reported on Tuesday on the covers « a new Iranian plan on the negotiating table ». Farhikhtegan newspaper, which is related to the revolutionary Guard, even raised the question of whether it was a « service or issue » proposal.

Iranian initiative details

The proposed tripartite nuclear consortium reportedly operates in such a way that Iran enriches uranium to a lower degree, below that is required for nuclear weapons (mentioned 3.67 percent, similar to the 2015 nuclear agreement). Enriched Uranus would then be sent to other Arab countries for civilian use. A key difference in 2015, however, would be the constant presence of representatives of other countries, perhaps even the United States, in the field in Iran, which would ensure an additional level of control. Iranian officials emphasize that such an agreement would be permanent, contrary to the JCPoa agreement, which had a 15-year restriction. This could be the president Donald Trumpwhich withdrew the US from a previous agreement, to claim to have reached significantly more than its predecessor Barack Obama.

The idea of ​​such a regional consortium is not completely new; As early as 2023, she was presented in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists article by a former Iranian nuclear negotiator Session Hosein Musaviannow a researcher on Princeton, and physicist Frank von Hippel. Musavian believes that such an approach would respond to more US concerns, reducing the immediate danger of an Iranian nuclear program by reducing the degree of enrichment and supplies, and preventing Iran in the long run from changing the direction as it happened after Trump’s exit in 2018.

Responses and obstacles

US President Donald Trump criticized Iran in his visit to Saudi Arabia for supporting armed groups in the region, but said at the same time that a diplomatic solution with Iran would bring greater security. « I want to make an agreement with Iran, » Trump said after reporting New York Times. Iranian leadership, however, warned that he decided soon, otherwise they were waiting for even more serious economic sanctions.

However, it is not quite clear how feasible the regional nuclear venture would be if I included Iran and its biggest rivals in the region, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (ZAE). Both bay countries are striving to agree between Tehran and Washington to avoid the regional war, while also have their own ambitions for the development of civilian nuclear programs. ZAE is already operating the first nuclear power plant in the Arab Barak Council, but they are prohibited from enriching uranium with the US agreement. Aragci visited Saudi Arabia before meeting the Americans, and immediately after it, but it is not known for now whether the two countries are interested in such cooperation with Iran.