EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - Iran Rejects Fuel-Making Suspension As Legislator Says Iran Has Not Slowed Enrichment

EURASIA INSIGHT

IRAN REJECTS FUEL-MAKING SUSPENSION AS LEGISLATOR SAYS IRAN HAS NOT SLOWED ENRICHMENT
8/06/07
A EurasiaNet Partner Post from RFE/RL

Print this article Email this article

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in Tehran on August 5 that Iran will not be suspending uranium enrichment, a key part of the nuclear fuel-making process with dual military and civilian uses, Radio Farda reported, citing IRNA.

He was rejecting statements attributed to Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, on the possibility of suspending uranium enrichment by Iran, a demand reiterated by Western states.

"I spoke to Mr. Larijani, and the article" in the German magazine "Focus," was not "adequately" reported, he said.

"As Mr. Larijani told this magazine, enrichment suspension as the conclusion of negotiations is not acceptable," he said.

Hosseini said Larijani told him that enrichment suspension is "not acceptable," and uranium enrichment is "vital" for Iran. Iran has insisted that it needs to make its own nuclear fuel, and cannot depend on fuel deliveries from abroad for the nuclear program it is developing.

A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency was reportedly to visit Iran on August 6 to continue talks on how Tehran can clarify some of the UN nuclear watchdog’s questions on its program, Radio Farda reported.

Kazem Jalali, a spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told IRNA on August 5 that reports that Iran has slowed down uranium enrichment at the Natanz enrichment plant outside Tehran -- purportedly in response to Western pressures or to show its goodwill -- was Western media speculation.

"It is absolutely not the case that enrichment activities have been intentionally reduced in Natanz," he said. Iran, he added, "has declared repeatedly that it will accept neither enrichment, nor suspension or the cessation" of enrichment and related activities.

He said Western media try and depict the existence of a contradiction between the statements and actions of Iranian officials, when Iran "acts clearly," and there has been "no change" in "fundamental" nuclear policies. He referred to some "technical problems," which "can be solved," though he did not say if these were in Natanz. VS

The Central Eurasia Project aims, through its website, meetings, papers, and grants, to foster a more informed debate about the social, political and economic developments of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a program of the Open Society Institute-New York. The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and controversial issues.

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the position of the Open Society Institute and are the sole responsibility of the author or authors.