Iran will not halt 20% enrichment:Iranian official

TEHRAN,Dec.19(MNA) – Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Director Fereydoun Abbasi said that Tehran will not stop producing uranium enriched to a purity level of 20 percent in response to Western countries’ demands. “The Islamic Republic of Iran will produce 20 percent enriched uranium to meet its needs and until it is required… 20 percent enrichment is the right of the Iranian nation for use in the Tehran reactor, and it will strongly defend this right,” Abbasi said on Tuesday when asked about renewed calls by Western countries for Iran to suspend 20 percent enrichment. Western powers want Iran to halt higher-grade enrichment of uranium. But Iran says it needs 20 percent enriched uranium to run the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment. “20 percent enrichment is not an issue that the Westerners want to agree with or be opposed to or want to adopt a stance toward it. It is the right of the Iranian people, and we will not relinquish this right,” the Iranian nuclear official said. Commenting on a possible new round of talks between Iran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) over the country’s nuclear program, Abbasi said, “Apparently no change is seen in their previous stance toward the Islamic Republic of Iran.” The Washington Post reported on Saturday that a new round of talks between Iran and the six major powers may be possible in coming weeks. According to the newspaper, the United States and five other world powers were hastily preparing for possible new talks with Iran amid signs that the country’s leaders might be willing to hold a new round of nuclear talks as early as this week. The report also quoted unnamed U.S. and European officials briefed on the matter as saying that the major powers had agreed on a new package of inducements to be offered to Iran if it agreed to freeze key parts of its nuclear program.