Russia says Iran’s right to enrich uranium should be recognized in a nuclear deal

TEHRAN,April 9(MNA) – Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow believes that all rights of the Islamic Republic of Iran, including its right to enrich uranium, should be recognized in exchange for its concessions on its nuclear program. Russia considers unfair some views of Western partners regarding the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program, RT quoted Ryabkov as saying on Saturday, when Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany – known as the P5+1 - wrapped up two days of nuclear talks in the Kazakh city of Almaty without any agreement on a date or venue to meet again. After two days of talks, the sides said there was a gap between their views and the six major powers said they would contact Iran after evaluating the process. “Russia says clearly the recognition of all rights of Iran under [the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,] including the right to enrichment in exchange for the IAEA control over Iran’s nuclear program, is the final model. This can be spread out to any depth,” Ryabkov said, adding that if that deal is reached, all sanctions against Iran should be lifted. However, the diplomat added that Iran has a different opinion on the succession of steps and uses different terms during the talks. This was the source of the disagreements at the talks in Almaty, Ryabkov observed. But Moscow hopes that the next round of nuclear talks on Iran will bring a breakthrough. There has been little public discussion of the details of the proposal put forward by world powers over Iran’s nuclear program. However, according to the New York Times, the major powers demanded that Iran suspend enrichment work at the Fordo facility - where it enriches uranium to 20 percent - and agree to unspecified conditions that would make it hard to quickly resume production. They also said Iran could continue to keep a small amount of uranium enriched to 20 percent for use in the Tehran research reactor, which produces medical isotopes for cancer treatment. Iran’s main demand is that its right to enrich uranium be recognized.