Iran will continue 20 percent uranium enrichment, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi said on Monday.
“Iran will continue 20 percent uranium enrichment until its domestic needs are satisfied.” “We see our partners to refuse to supply necessary materials for medicines that is why we intend to continue 20 percent uranium enrichment,” the Iranian ambassador stressed.
Commenting on the Sextet talks due to take place in Geneva on December 5, Sajjadi said, “Discussions on Tehran’s proposals will be the priority for Iran. I’m convinced that the Sextet has its topics to be discussed.”
In February 2010 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country is ready to send part of its uranium stock abroad for further enrichment, as proposed by the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Ahmadinejad said on state television that Iran would have "no problem" if most of its uranium was held for several months before being returned as fuel rods. Until now Tehran always refused to accept the proposal, and if confirmed the move would mark a major shift in Tehran's position.
On June 9, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1929 imposed new sanctions against Iran.
Ahmadinejad said his country is ready to hold talks, but warned that Tehran won't yield any of its international rights to peaceful nuclear energy development, according to the reports.
World powers believe Iran intends to develop nuclear weapons but Iran denies this, saying it wants to use nuclear power for peaceful purposes.
Ahmadinejad has said an Iranian representative would meet with the “P5 plus one” group, which is made up of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia – along with Germany.
Nuclear talks between Iran and the six powers have been stalled since October 1, 2009, when the two groups last met in Geneva, Switzerland.
Iran is now subject to four sets of U.N. sanctions, while the United States and the EU have also imposed separate penalties on Tehran over its refusal to stop enriching uranium.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Iran will resume talks with the Sextet in mid-November.
Iran agreed “to hold talks in the middle of November”, Lavrov said. “We expect it to respond to our proposal to settle the Iranian nuclear problem,” the minister stressed.
“We expect Iran to respond to the proposals, which will be put forth by each member of the Sextet and not any its member,” Lavrov said. “These proposals are well-known. They are on paper and Tehran has them,” he added.
“We heard Tehran to seek to resume these talks in mid-November. We will hope that this will be so due to the fact that a year passed when an agreement was reached to resume the talks. Better late than never,” Lavrov said.
Moscow welcomes Iran's intentions to resume a dialogue with international powers over its nuclear program, Russian media reported.
"We have taken note of (Iranian President) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statement on Iran's readiness to hold a meeting with the Sextet on Iran in mid-November in compliance with a proposal by the European Union's foreign policy chief Baroness Catherine Ashton," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said earlier.