Iran, not West makes uranium-swap proposal
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday the proposal to give part of Iran's uranium to Russia and France in exchange for enriched uranium came from his country not the West.
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Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gestures during a press conference in Brasilia, capital of Brazil, Nov. 23, 2009. Ahmadinejad is on a one day official visit to Brazil which is the first for Iranian president in 50 years. [Xinhua] |
At a press conference after his meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Ahmadinejad said Western powers had given a false account of what happened to the negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, covering up the fact that Tehran made the initiative.
The plan submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran would send about 70 percent of its low-grade enriched uranium to Russia and France, where it would be turned into fuel rods for an Iranian reactor to produce nuclear energy.
He claimed Iran has the right to enrich uranium to a purity of 20 percent. He sent letters to the governments of Russia and the United States indicating his readiness to buy enriched fuel from other countries.
He also said that Iranian citizens do not like the negative campaigns waged against their country by these western countries and they are wary of the possibility of an agreement.
The Iranian government had given satisfactory answers to all six questions by the IAEA and there is no evidence that Iranian nuclear program has military purposes, the president said.
"We still want to make that agreement. The purchase and sale offuels are free, but it is up to the buyer to define the conditions of purchase. To reach agreement, we will not abandon our rights," he said.
Lula da Silva defended Iran's right to peaceful use of nuclear power including uranium enrichment and that of Brazil, as long as they comply with international norms.
IAEA chief Mohammed El Baradei has defined this year as the deadline for an agreement with Ahmadinejad's government.
