Government confirms Iran`s bid to suspend enrichment Monday
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Tehran, Nov 22, IRNA -- Iran said it will start suspending uranium enrichment as of Monday, making good on its word which it gave at a recent agreement with the Europeans. Government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, however, stressed that it was Tehran`s prerogative to specify `the extent and duration of the suspension`. "This suspension depends on the commitment of the opposite party and we will test this at the next board of governors` meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," he told reporters at his weekly news briefing. "We have voluntarily accepted suspension, since we have no legal obligation in this regard, having done this to bolster overall confidence at the regional and international level," he added. As a confidence-building measure, Iran agreed in its meeting with the three EU states in Paris last week to suspend all activities related to uranium enrichment in order to avoid a probable showdown. "This process of confidence-building is in our national interests, besides being a factor to fend off war-mongering ideologies of certain individuals in the world," Ramezanzadeh said. Uranium enrichment is allowed under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which Iran is a signatory, and the country wants it as part of its efforts to master a nuclear fuel cycle. On Thursday, the IAEA`s board of governors is to discuss the nature of Iran`s nuclear activities, which the country stresses is aimed at power generation. Tehran has to prove its nuclear program is civilian or risk being hauled to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions. The United States is trying to persuade the world over its allegations that Tehran`s nuclear program is a front to build atomic weapons, and pave the way for referral of Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions. But, the EU trio of Germany, France and Britain pursue a different line, having offered Iran a package of economic incentives in return for suspending uranium enrichment. The European trio have reached a `preliminary` deal with Iran, under which Tehran would halt an enrichment program in exchange for political and economic incentives. Under the deal, Iran would freeze all nuclear fuel enrichment and reprocessing activities until it has reached a final agreement with the EU over a package of economic, technological and security incentives in return for abandoning nuclear activities. The EU incentives reportedly include a guaranteed supply of reactor fuel, assistance to construction of a light-water power reactor and a resumption of stalled trade talks. Ramezanzadeh turned the tables on the Europeans, saying, "We have always observed our commitments and now we expect that the opposite party also remains committed to its obligations." While the Europeans have called on Iran to agree to an indefinite freeze on enrichment, Tehran has expressly stated that it cannot be induced to scrapping the process for good. Supreme Leader`s representative at the Kayhan Group of Newspapers, Hossein Shariatmadari, stressed that Iran will never relinquish its right to produce the country`s own nuclear fuel. "The Islamic Republic of Iran will never concede its right to nuclear fuel and no power can deprive us of this right," he told a group of students at the western city of Ilam. The conservative editor said Tehran must not have entered into negotiations with the EU troika since `the main core of the talks has gone off its legal and technical track and has mostly become political`. "Although knowing that Iran is not after atomic weapons, the Europeans are trying to halt our enrichment activities for good," Shariatmadari said. There is an enormous distinction between uranium enrichment and production of nuclear weapons; hence, manufacturing nuclear weapons relies on a political will," he added. 2323/2322/1432
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