David Albright is the president and founder of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution dedicated to informing the public about science and policy issues affecting international security. Correspondent Aryan Hossein of RFE/RL’s Radio Farda interviewed Albright about reports that Iran has been trying to more than 1,000 tons of uranium ore from Kazakhstan.
RFE/RL: Mr. Albright, Iran has rejected the international community’s end-of-the-year deadline to accept a uranium enrichment deal. This comes as an intelligence report obtained by The Associated Press says Iran is close to a deal to import 1,350 tons of purified uranium ore from Kazakhstan. What is your assessment — is Iran’s stockpile of uranium oxide diminishing or does it have another agenda?
David Albright:
It’s hard to know. I mean, first of all, we don’t know what Iran was allegedly doing in Kazakhstan. The report, from what I understand, says that Iran was trying to acquire uranium yellowcake in a pretty substantial quantity. Now, under UN Security Council resolutions, it’s very unlikely it could ever acquire that material legally.
Kazakhstan’s government would have to check very carefully whether it could sell uranium to Iran. And so more than likely -…
