Official: Iran to start 20% uranium enrichment if talks fail

Spokesman for Iran’s National Atomic Energy Agency Ali Shirzadian said Iran will start enrichment of uranium at 20 percent level if the talks in Vienna fail to provide Iran’s desired outcomes.

Making the remarks in an exclusive interview with IRNA, he said if the upcoming talks lack the desired results for Iran, then Tehran will correspond with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to announce its decision to start activities to provide the needed fuel by itself.

Asked to comment on the reasons why Iran is not interested in carrying out 20 percent uranium enrichment at the present juncture and is instead asking other countries to provide its needed fuel, he said Iran only needed 150-300 kilograms of fuel for its power plants so it was not economically justified for Tehran to produce it by itself.

In addition, he added, Iran’s decision was in fact a chance for the western countries to prove the sincerity of their claims.

According to the official, the US, Russia and France are presently the major countries which have offered to provide Iran’s needed fuel.

Shirzadian further dismissed claims that Iran’s decision to buy its needed fuel from foreign countries meant the transfer of all its atomic activities to outside Iran and that the decision showed Iran’s willingness to stop uranium enrichment inside the country.

He said Iran was going to the talks on fuel supply without consenting to any preconditions, stressing that Iran’s offer to get its needed 20 percent enriched uranium for its nuclear power plants was only due to the fact that its domestic production was not economical.

He said all world countries already knew that Iran does have the enrichment technology so the proposal was never to be interpreted as a weakness for Iran.

Shirzadian said, having offered the chance to other countries to provide 20 percent enriched uranium to Iran, Tehran will continue its activities to produce 5 percent enriched uranium inside the country and will for sure start work on 20 percent enriched uranium production if it sees the talks have been fruitless.

End