Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - DIPLOMATIC CABLES recently released by WikiLeaks shed new light on a growing rift between Amman and Washington over Jordan’s nuclear programme.

The leaked cables, posted by the US embassy in Amman in 2009, summarise meetings between embassy officials and Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Khaled Toukan, then Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) chairman, and detail negotiations over a US-Jordan nuclear cooperation pact which have dragged on since early 2008.

Differences between the two sides emerged over the terms of the agreement, which would pave the way for the sale and transfer of nuclear technology and expertise between the US and Jordan, according to the cables.

After outlining an initial cooperation agreement in early 2008, Washington insisted that Jordan sign a deal similar to a pact reached between the US and the UAE in June 2008, which called for extensive monitoring and under which Abu Dhabi waived its right to uranium enrichment.

In the cables, part of a cache of diplomatic communiqués released by the whistle-blower website late last month, embassy officials noted that Toukan was “annoyed” over Washington’s insistence on the revised terms and maintained that an agreement similar to the UAE deal would “kill commercial opportunities” for Jordan for the next 30 years.

Toukan argued that due to the transparency and international support for the Kingdom’s nuclear programme, Jordan did not require the additional safeguards included in the revised agreement, accusing US officials of attempting to apply double standards to Arab states, according to the cables.

The communiqués outline JAEC officials’ preference to return to an initial, standard cooperation agreement outlined in February 2008, which did not require Jordan to forego its right to uranium enrichment.

“I have always maintained that Jordan should retain its sovereign rights under the NPT, and this is what the cables show,” Toukan told The Jordan Times in a recent phone interview.

The cables depict US and Jordanian officials at an impasse - with the JAEC expecting Washington to return to the original agreement and the State Department trying to convince officials in Amman of the “political importance” of the revised terms, particularly to the US Congress.

Congressional approval is viewed as critical to the passage of any nuclear cooperation agreement, with US lawmakers reserving a 90-day period to raise objections to a pending deal.

Embassy staff concluded that the JAEC’s position reflected the “personal views” of Toukan rather than official policy, the documents reveal, indicating that US officials planned to apply pressure at higher levels for the Kingdom to accept a UAE-style agreement.

The leaked documents also reveal a fear among US diplomats that Jordan may lobby other emerging Arab nuclear states - namely Egypt and Saudi Arabia - to reject the UAE standards.

Despite the differences over a nuclear deal, the cables note Amman’s willingness for greater cooperation in non-proliferation efforts, with Toukan and other officials reiterating Jordan’s support for strengthening the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the establishment of a regional fuel bank and the creation of a Middle East nuclear weapons free zone.

On several earlier occasions, officials at the US embassy declined to comment on the leaked cables.

JAEC officials have indicated that although “revealing”, the leaked cables will have little impact on the stalled talks.

The lack of a nuclear cooperation agreement has barred US firms from competing in the technology selection for the Kingdom’s first nuclear reactor - with the JAEC currently vetting offers from Russian, Canadian and Japanese-French vendors.

Although Jordan’s nuclear plans do not entail uranium enrichment, officials in Amman have insisted on retaining the strategic option of exploiting the Kingdom’s reserves, currently estimated at over 100,000 tonnes, to fuel the programme in the future.

Officials at the State Department’s nuclear energy, safety and security office, who helped draft the original proposed nuclear cooperation agreement, previously told The Jordan Times that prior to being brought to a standstill earlier this year, negotiations between Amman and Washington had been proceeding “positively”.

Jordan’s nuclear programme calls for the establishment of a 1,000-megawatt reactor near Mafraq, some 40 kilometres northeast of the capital, by the end of the decade.

Jordan has singled out atomic energy as the key to weaning the country off energy imports, which cost one-fifth of the Kingdom’s gross domestic product in 2010.


Jordan Times / By Taylor Luck