Making it’s stand firm, Iran on Tuesday announced its beginning of additional uranium enriching. Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s atomic chief told: “From today we have started the 20 percent enrichment… in Natanz.” Reported the official IRNA news agency.
World powers had earlier threatened to pass new sanctions again suspecting that the Islamic republic’s nuclear project is aimed at making a bomb. Replying to Iran’s announcement United States said that it added urgency to its efforts to clinch new sanctions against Tehran. The European Union also reiterated that the bloc will back UN action.
“Taking enrichment to the level of 20 percent adds to the deficit of confidence in the nature of Iran’s nuclear program,. This has already been aggravated by Iran’s unwillingness to engage in meaningful talks.” EU nuclear envoy and foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said. She also added that Europe “stands ready to take the necessary steps to accompany the UN Security Council process.”
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said in Paris that Washington is now looking for a fresh UN sanctions resolution against Iran in “a matter of weeks, not months.”
“Iran’s decision to start its own enrichment of uranium… heightens doubts on the sincerity of Iran’s intentions to end the international community’s existing concerns,” a Foreign Ministry statement of Russia said
Pro-regime protesters demonstrated outside several European embassies in Tehran on Tuesday against the EU stance on Iran’s nuclear program.
Experts say that once Iran enriches uranium to 20 percent, it can proceed to the 93 percent needed to produce nuclear weapons since the technology is the same.
Iran has conducted low-level enrichment of uranium in the central city for several years, in defiance of three sets of UN sanctions. As per experts, the same technology of enriching uranium to 20 percent can be applied to enrich it to 93 percent, the level required to make nuclear weapons.
At the same time, Iran made it clear that it is still ready for a deal with IAEA. “If other countries or the IAEA meet our needs, maybe we can change our approach… The door is not closed yet. Any time they (world powers) are ready, this (fuel deal) can be done,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters.
The West’s plan to convince Iran to agree to the IAEA-brokered deal that envisages it being given fuel for the Tehran reactor in exchange for its low-enriched uranium (LEU) had hit a roadblock as Iran, despite saying it is ready “in principle” to agree, insists that not all its LEU be shipped out at once as world powers demand.