Kazakhstan offers to take Iran's uranium stockpile, IAEA chief tells FT
- The Kazakh leader had expressed his country’s “openness” to store the stockpile enriched to near weapons grade level
Kazakhstan has offered to store Iran's uranium stockpile, enriched to near weapons-grade, if the US and Iran reach a nuclear accord, according to the UN nuclear watchdog chief.
- Kazakhstan's offer to store Iran's uranium.
- The 440 kg of 60% enriched uranium.
- US and Iran's nuclear program negotiations.
LONDON: Kazakhstan has offered to take Iran’s uranium stockpile if the United States and Iran reach an accord on Tehran’s contested nuclear programme, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Financial Times on Friday.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency met with Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Astana this week.
The Financial Times said the Kazakh leader had expressed his country’s “openness” to store the stockpile enriched to near weapons grade level.
Also read: Supreme Leader says enriched uranium must stay in Iran, Iranian sources say
The estimated 440 kilogrammes of uranium processed to 60 percent purity is at the centre of talks between the United States and Iran on extending the ceasefire in the war unleashed by US-Israel attacks.
US President Donald Trump has insisted that Iran must accept that it will not have a nuclear weapon and that the uranium is destroyed. Iran has insisted on its right to maintain a nuclear programme.
According to US news site Axios, a deal being discussed does not solve the uranium dispute, but would include an Iranian commitment not to build a nuclear bomb.
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