Tehran, October 25: Iran asserts that its offer to buy nuclear fuel from the West is purely a confidence building measure, as it has the technology to enrich uranium up to 20 percent.
“This is a peaceful project that is only aimed at providing fuel for a reactor that produces radio isotopes and radio medicine for clinical purposes,” Iran’s envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog Ali-Asqar Soltaniyeh told Iran’s Student News Agency (ISNA).
“Tehran has simply preferred to purchase the fuel, despite having the expertise to process uranium to a level of 20 percent. This is while Iran has made a great deal of progress in acquiring peaceful nuclear technology and can itself enrich uranium up to 20 percent,” he added.
Last week in Vienna, Iranian diplomats held talks with their Russian, French and US counterparts on the details of a planned agreement that would see the Western side provide Iran with the higher enriched fuel it needs to run the Tehran reactor.
The Tehran reactor requires enriched uranium of up to 20 percent to conduct its activities, which consists of producing medical radioisotopes for therapeutic and diagnostic procedures and research.
—–Agencies