Shayan Ghajar

Iran’s Nuclear Chief, Ali-Akbar Salehi, stated July 7 in a press conference that the American-led sanctions efforts may impact the speed of Iran’s nuclear program, according to ISNA, a state-run student news agency.

Salehi was attending a speech celebrating the future opening of the Bushehr reactor, which just completed the last round of its testing before it comes online in September. The Bushehr reactor, built with the help of Russian technical specialists, has not yet been tested with enriched uranium.

ISNA’s reporter at the press conference asked whether sanctions would affect the nuclear program. Salehi, both Iran’s highest authority in the nuclear program as well as one of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s vice presidents, said, “One cannot say sanctions will have no effect on the nuclear program. If the goal of sanctions is to prevent Iran’s nuclear activities, measures such as those which have been passed by the U.S. with regards to gasoline will have no effect.” He continued, “It is possible that work will face a slowdowns due to sanctions, but it is absolutely certain that [our] nuclear activities will not cease.”

Salehi’s comments that sanctions may affect the speed of the nuclear program is the first such comment by any significant official in the Islamic Republic. Salehi said that while sanctions didn’t specifically target the Bushehr reactor, important measuring equipment necessary to the reactor’s functions would be affected by the sanctions. However, Salehi asserted that if Iran’s nuclear agency needs to, it can “collaborate to manufacture this equipment [domestically].”

IAEA procedures, Salehi pointed out, had been followed rigorously during the process of bringing the Bushehr reactor up to its near-operational status. IAEA seals remain unbroken on enriched uranium on the site, the nuclear official stated, with no diversion of enriched material to or from Bushehr. Additionally, cameras installed by the nuclear watchdog continue to monitor activity at the site’s entrance and exit to ensure no transfer of uranium. However, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, Salehi also indicated that uranium enriched up to 5% would be provided for the reactor when it becomes fully operational.

The nuclear chief also took pains to emphasize the collaboration required between Iran and Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, in the Bushehr reactor’s construction and design. “The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant is a symbol of the deep-rooted and entrenched cooperation between the great nations of Russia and Iran.” In a similar attempt to emphasize the stability of Russo-Iranian relations, another story appeared almost simultaneous on the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency, in which Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri, deputy head of Iran’s Armed Forces Headquarters, warned of U.S.-instigated plots in the Middle East and Caucasus to uproot Russian influence.

However, despite the messages of shared goals and goodwill between the two nations, the Fars News article also devoted great attention to the fallout following Russia’s decision to comply with U.N. sanctions by refraining from delivering a shipment of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, which would likely have been used to protect nuclear installations from potential aerial attack.

Despite the Iranian government’s rhetoric to the contrary, it is increasingly evident that the latest round of sanctions from the U.N., as well as unilateral sanctions from numerous Western nations, are having an immediate–though perhaps not major–impact on Iran’s ability to use foreign technology to protect or expand its nuclear program.

Iran indicated yesterday in a letter from Saeed Jalili, the top Iranian nuclear negotiator, to E.U. High Representative Catherine Ashton declaring that discussions between Iran and the P5+1 could resume on September 1, 2010. The European Union has not yet indicated if it will accept.