Seeking to quell international concern about Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Director Fereydoon Abbassi stated that the country’s 20 percent uranium enrichment program is designed solely to facilitate medical research.
Abbassi stated during an interview, “We have no difficulty in producing fuel for the medical reactor, but we normally receive the means and equipment to modernize the site later. We are in need of the equipment and ready to receive them in order to start enriching uranium when they are there to be installed by Iranian engineers,” The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
Given the contentiousness of Iran’s enrichment program, Abbassi added that Iran is ready to continue talks on the issues or questions raised recently by the International Atomic Energy Agency about Iran’s nuclear program if the agency is serious about resolving outstanding disputes over Iran’s nuclear programs, stating, “We have asked them to submit a number of their claims and provide supporting evidence and documentation so that we examine the matter. The IAEA should change the language of its reports on Iran because the Islamic Republic sees this language as unacceptable.”
A number of nations, led by the United States and Israel, suspect that Iran’s civilian nuclear energy program in fact masks a covert effort to acquire nuclear weaponry, a charge that Iran strongly denies.
By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com
