Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he would tell Russian
President Vladimir Putin that he would not approve the sale of
uranium to Moscow if there was any possibility it could be resold
to Iran or Syria.
Howard said he would put Putin "through the ropes" when he meets
him in Sydney on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific leaders'
forum.
"The condition on our selling uranium is that we obtain the
guarantees necessary to satisfy us that it won't go to Iran and
Syria," Howard told local radio.
"We will be taking the Russians through the ropes in relation to
any arrangement we have and we will be wanting to satisfy ourselves
completely that won't occur," Howard said.
Australia, with 40% of the world's reserves of uranium, exports the
mineral to 36 nations and hopes to sign a deal with Putin at the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denies Western accusations he
is seeking nuclear bombs, saying Iran's nuclear programme is meant
to generate electricity.
Iran, the world's fourth largest crude exporter, has said it wants
to build a network of nuclear power plants with a capacity of
20,000 megawatts (MW) by 2020 to enable it to export more of its
valuable oil and gas.
Russia is Iran's closest major ally and has helped water down
international sanctions against Tehran.
Asked by Australian media whether Russia could be trusted not to
onsell uranium to Iran, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said
Moscow was fully aware of concerns about the development of nuclear
weapons in Iran.
"I really suspect that the Russians understand the threat of an
Iranian nuclear weapon," Rice said in Sydney.
"Let's remember that Iran is an awful lot closer to Russia than it
is to the United State or to Australia. I know that they would be
very careful about the proliferation of any material to Iran," Rice
said.
Washington accuses Iran and Syria of supporting terrorism and bars
both countries from receiving US exports and controls sales of
items with military and civilian uses.
Australia recently ended a ban on uranium sales to India, reversing
a policy of selling the nuclear fuel only to Non-Proliferation
Treaty signatories.
Australia is currently negotiating safeguards for A$250 million (NZ
$299 million) worth of uranium exports to Beijing.
Japan is also set to sign a deal with Australia to secure uranium for civilian nuclear energy use, Kyodo news agency said.
