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Iran rejects US offer over medical isotopes
Iran has rejected the US offer to provide the Tehran government with an alternative way to obtain medical isotopes. "The US proposal is illogical as Iranian patients are in need of medicine," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Wednesday. "Shutting down the reactor or stopping the production of medicine is not the solution. The solution is that the other side cooperates to increase the number of these reactors as well as their production to meet the needs of patients," he further explained. Mehmanparast's comments came after US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said on Tuesday in Washington that the US would propose to the UN watchdog an alternative way to supply medical isotopes to treat Iranian cancer patients. "Our point is, if Iran feels it has a specific need, we are willing to engage constructively and try to identify ways in which the international community and potentially the United States can meet that need," Crowley said. He further said that providing the opportunity to buy the isotopes directly would be the "fastest and cheapest" way for Iran to avoid running out of isotopes and could help "build confidence." Mehmanparast called on Western countries to stop mounting political and economic pressure on Iran and instead adopt a realistic approach towards the country's nuclear activities. He added that attempting to obstruct a nation's path to development was wrong, saying, "Such efforts will only make people more sensitive toward them [the West] and give them a negative image in Iranian public opinion." Iran needs 120 kg (264 lb) of 20 percent-enriched uranium to fuel the Tehran research reactor, which produces medical isotopes for cancer patients and is running out of fuel. Upon the order of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran on Tuesday began enriching uranium to a level of 20 percent at the Natanz enrichment facility under the surveillance of inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog. Posted by: Fred 2010-02-11 |
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