Iran Ready to Halt 20% N. Enrichment

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday reiterated Tehran's readiness to "immediately" stop production of low enriched uranium of 20 percent if the world powers agree to supply the nuclear material to the country."If they give us the 20 percent (enriched) fuel, we will immediately halt 20 percent (enrichment)," Ahmadinejad said in an interview aired live on Iranian state-run television repeating his comments to the New York Times when he was in New York to attend the UN General Assembly in late September. "Production of 20 percent (enriched) fuel is not economical. It is expensive and there is no (export) market that would justify continuing to operate the plant," he added in his national address. Ahmadinejad insisted that repeating Iran's readiness to give up 20 percent enrichment was "a way to disarm (world powers) ... who say 20 percent means one step closer to the bomb." He added, however, that "we need 3.5 percent enriched uranium to fuel our power plants and 20 percent enriched uranium for our research" reactors. Iran started enriching uranium at 20 percent level in February 2010 after failed negotiation over a fuel swap which would have seen Iran shipping out its 3.5 percent enriched uranium in exchange for 20 percent fuel from Russia and France. According to figures given by the International Atomic Energy Agency published in September Iran has produced 70 kilos (155 pounds) of 20 percent enriched uranium. In similar remarks on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast also said Tehran could suspend production of 20 percent-enriched uranium if the exchange moves forward. "As the 20-percent enrichment process is not even economical for us, we would be willing to halt this process and get the necessary fuel for the Tehran reactor from abroad," he said. But if the West continues to reject the plan, "we will not only continue to do the enrichment by ourselves but also build a factory for manufacturing even the fuel rods by ourselves", he added. "The 20-percent enrichment made in the Tehran reactor is necessary for saving lives, and anything related to this reactor should not be mixed up with political games," he said. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, addressing last month's meeting of the UN General Assembly, suggested on the event's sidelines that his country could halt production of 20%-enriched uranium in return for medical reactor fuel from other nations.After Iran announced to the IAEA in 2009 that it had run out of nuclear fuel for its research reactor in Tehran, the Agency proposed a deal according to which Iran would send 3.5-percent-enriched uranium and receive 20-percent-enriched uranium from potential suppliers in return, all through the UN nuclear watchdog agency. The proposal was first introduced on October 1, 2009 when Iranian representatives and diplomats from the US, France and Russia - as potential suppliers - held high-level talks in Vienna. But France and the United States, as potentials suppliers, stalled the talks soon after the start. They offered a deal which would keep Tehran waiting for months before it could obtain the fuel, a luxury of time that Iran could not afford as it is about to run out of 20-percent-enriched uranium. The Iranian parliament rejected the deal after technical studies showed that it would only take two to three months for any country to further enrich the nuclear stockpile and turn it into metal nuclear rods for the Tehran Research Reactor, while suppliers had announced that they would not return fuel to Iran any less than seven months. Iran then put forward its own proposal that envisaged a two-staged exchange. According to Tehran's offer, the IAEA would safeguard nearly one third of Iran's uranium stockpile inside the Iranian territory for the time that it took to find a supplier. The western countries opposed Tehran's proposal. Yet, the western countries opposed Iran's proposal again. Subsequently, Iranian, Brazilian and Turkish officials on May 17, 2010 signed an agreement named the 'Tehran Declaration' which presented a solution to the longstanding standoff between Iran and potential suppliers of nuclear fuel. According to the agreement, Iran would send some 1200 kg of its 3.5% enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for a total 120 kg of 20% enriched fuel. But again the western countries showed a negative and surprising reaction to the Tehran Declaration and sponsored a sanctions resolution against Iran at the UN Security Council instead of taking the opportunity presented by the agreement. Russia, France, and the US, in three separate letters, instead of giving a definite response to the Tehran Declaration, raised some questions about the deal, and the US took a draft sanctions resolution against Iran to the UN Security Council, which was later approved by the Council. Iran in a letter responded to the questions raised by the Vienna Group on the Tehran Declaration and voiced its preparedness to hold talks. In a later move, IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano proposed a plan to resume talks between the two sides, and former Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced Tehran's agreement with Amano's proposal. "Iran is ready to take part in the meeting brokered by Amano," Mottaki said. He referred to Iran's letter to Amano in which the country had declared its readiness for talks with the Vienna Group and said, "Mr. Amano has forwarded the letter to other members of the group and it seems that he is arranging for holding the meeting." Mottaki said that the country wants to determine and approve details of fuel swap through talks with Vienna Group. Yet, despite all the efforts Iran has made so far to swap or supply fuel from potential suppliers, the West has refrained to do so. After Iran saw western suppliers rock the boat and shrug off their responsibility - as enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) statute - it started domestic plans to enrich uranium to the purity level of 20 percent. In April 2010, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the AEOI head to start domestic plans to supply fuel to the Tehran research reactor which produces radioisotopes for medicinal use.