Iran has temporarily halted its production of enriched uranium to 20% purity as it has sufficient stocks to fuel its Tehran research reactor, a lawmaker was quoted Thursday as saying.
Iran
has
temporarily halted its production of enriched uranium to 20% purity as it has
sufficient stocks to fuel its
Tehran
research
reactor, a lawmaker was quoted Thursday as saying.
"There is no production at all...as right now there is no need for the
production of 20% [enriched] uranium," the parliament website reported
conservative MP Hossein Naqavi Hosseini as saying.
Iran
's
nuclear enrichment program is at the core of its dispute with world powers, who
suspect it masks a drive for atomic weapons despite repeated denials by the
Islamic republic.
Enriching uranium to 20% purity is a few technical steps short of producing
weapons-grade fissile material.
There was no immediate comment on the report from the government, from
Iran
's
atomic organization, nor from the nuclear team tasked with negotiating with
world powers over
Tehran
's
nuclear ambitions.
The parliamentary website, ICANA.ir, further quoted Naqavi Hosseini as saying
the fuel for the
Tehran
reactor, which is used to produce medical isotopes, is fully stocked.
"This site currently has the required fuel and there is no need to produce
[the 20%]," said Naqavi Hosseini.
"
Tehran
itself decides whether to have above 5% enrichment or not. But the issue of
suspension and halt is at the moment meaningless as there is no production at
all," he said, referring to Western demands that
Tehran
suspends the high-level enrichment.
Naqavi Hosseini is spokesman for the foreign policy commission, which is
regularly briefed on
Iran
's
nuclear work.
Declarations by members of the commission have on occasions been denied by the
government.
All decisions on
Iran
's
nuclear program rest with the ultimate decision-maker, supreme leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei.
Iran
insists it won't bow to pressure to end its enrichment program despite repeated
demands by the U.N. Security Council and several rounds of sanctions.
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