New questions are growing about the accuracy of yesterday’s Der Spiegel report, which cited diplomats saying Iran is planning to announce a new offer to suspend uranium enrichment at the Fordo facility in return for an end to international sanctions.
The Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) is now quoting an unnamed “informed source” as saying that Iran is not preparing to close Fordo, nor does it intend to present any new offers during Rohani’s September visit to the UN General Assembly.
Interestingly for a report that made the rounds very publicly, no Iranian official has publicly disputed the plan, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, discussing the matter today, said Iran intends to be “flexible” during the talks.
The Fordo “offer” may ultimately just be a test balloon to gauge Western receptiveness to a deal, though with Iran phasing out its production of 20 percent enriched uranium, a process mostly moved to Fordo in the past year, the facility may indeed be expendable without compromising Iran’s civilian nuclear capabilities.
was not there some kind of explosion at fordo even people trapped under ground . maybe even contamination . I f this was bad enough this could be another smart reason to close Fordo . But If Iran could gain some consessions to boot . this would be a good move .