Salehi Confirms Meeting with U.S. Energy Secretary in Oman

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, confirmed reports of his 'secret' and undisclosed meeting with Ernest Moniz, the U.S. Secretary of Energy. According to this official, the meeting took place last month in Oman. The Young Journalists Club, affiliated with Iran's state broadcaster, published a brief interview with Salehi on Thursday, December 10, stating that this meeting was 'to remove obstacles to the implementation of the nuclear agreement.' The American newspaper Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, December 6, that Iran is negotiating with six world powers to transfer its 20% enriched uranium stockpiles abroad, and that a meeting between Salehi and Moniz took place in the first week of November (mid-Aban) which was not reported. The newspaper described the meeting between the Iranian and American officials in an Arab country as 'secret and hidden.' The report states that the U.S. is assisting Iran in transferring its 20% enriched uranium stockpiles to Kazakhstan in Central Asia, thereby paving the way for the implementation of the nuclear agreement and the lifting of sanctions related to Tehran's nuclear program. However, Salehi did not confirm the discussion of transferring Iran's 20% enriched uranium to Kazakhstan in his interview with the Young Journalists Club, but mentioned that 'we are in talks with several countries for sending fuel waste.' Most of Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles are enriched to 5%, which Iran is obligated to reduce under the nuclear agreement. However, Iran also possesses several kilograms of 20% enriched uranium, which must be reduced to zero. The Wall Street Journal writes that transferring these uranium stockpiles to a country like Kazakhstan, which has close ties with Washington and the International Atomic Energy Agency, would provide greater assurance in the implementation of the nuclear agreement. Kazakhstan's nuclear program, like Iran's and many other countries, is under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which makes it difficult to secretly return this uranium to Tehran.