Soltanieh: Iran against nuclear weapons, use of HEU
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Vienna, June 15, IRNA
Austria-Nuclear-Soltanieh
Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali-Asghar Soltanieh said that Iran has always been against nuclear weapons and use of highly enriched uranium (HEU).
He made the remark at an international symposium (June 17-20) in the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway, dubbed "Minimizing the Civilian Uses of Highly Enriched Uranium".
The Tuesday session of the conference was opened by the speech of Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Store. Then the message of Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei was read out.
Soltanieh said, "Given that representatives of world countries expect to hear the message of peace in this conference, I should underline that Iran favors peaceful nuclear activities and its programs have always been for peaceful purposes.
"Meanwhile, the enriched uranium is used in research reactors and nuclear power plants. "
He said that the public opinion should not be deviated from the major threat of using HER in nuclear weapons.
The Iranian diplomat called for annihilation of nuclear weapons and minimizing the enrichment level of the uranium to be used for peaceful purposes, such as reactors.
For his part, South African envoy to the IAEA said that it is impossible to make any country convert the fuel of its research reactors, which are supervised by the UN nuclear watchdog, unless it decides to do so voluntarily.
The symposium is attended by 100 nuclear experts and envoys of 45 countries to the IAEA. The technical, legal and political dimensions of converting the reactors using `highly enriched uranium' fuel into the ones using `lowly enriched uranium' fuel was among the topics discussed at the session.
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