Iran yesterday told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it would start enriching uranium to higher levels, shrugging off international fears that such a move would bring it closer to being able to make nuclear warheads.
Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh sought to dispel such concerns. The uranium to be enriched to 20 percent would be used only to make fuel for Tehran’s research reactor, which is expected to use up its present stock within a year, he said.
Soltanieh, who represents Iran at the Vienna-based IAEA, also said that the agency’s inspectors would be able to fully monitor the process. He blamed world powers for Iran’s decision, asserting that it was their fault that a plan that foresaw Russian and French involvement in supplying the research reactor had failed.
“Until now, we have not received any response to our positive logical and technical proposal,” he said. “We cannot leave hospitals and patients desperately waiting for radio isotopes” being produced at the Tehran reactor and used in cancer treatment.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced on Sunday that Tehran would significantly enrich at least some of the country’s stockpile of uranium. Yesterday’s notification to the IAEA was still important in light of the rash of conflicting signals sent in recent months by Iranian officials on the issue.
The Iranian move came just days after Ahmadinejad appeared to move close to endorsing the original deal, which foresaw Tehran exporting the bulk of its low-enriched uranium to Russia for further enrichment and then conversion for fuel rods for the research reactor.
That plan was endorsed by the US, Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany — the six powers that originally elicited a tentative approval from Iran in landmark talks last fall.
Russia said yesterday that it believes Iran must send its uranium abroad for higher enrichment in line with that agreement, Interfax news agency quoted the foreign ministry in Moscow as saying.
Meanwhile, Iran will soon unveil a domestically made air defense system with at least the same capability as Russia’s S-300 anti-aircraft hardware, an Iranian air force commander was quoted as saying yesterday.
Last month, Russia’s state arms trader declined to say whether it would go ahead with the sale, which could protect Iran’s nuclear facilities from air strikes. Iranian officials have expressed growing irritation at Russia’s failure to supply the missile system.
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