Iran reiterated Sunday that it won't accept any proposal depriving it of the right to enrich uranium, saying it can't be bullied into giving up its nuclear energy program, state media reported "Tehran will accept only proposals that meet Iran's national interests and its legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear technology," state-run television quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi as saying.
A group of European countries notified the United States on Friday that it intends to offer Iran a package of economic concessions and technological assistance in the hopes of persuading Tehran to give up its uranium-enrichment program. Asefi said Iran has voluntarily suspended actual enrichment of uranium — injecting hexafluoride gas into centrifuges — but that it won't accept a deal to make that suspension permanent because that would go against national interests. "One-side confidence-building measures are subject to change. Europe must accept that it won't get anything by issuing orders to Iran," state television quoted Asefi as saying.
Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors unanimously passed a resolution demanding that Iran freeze all work on uranium enrichment, including uranium reprocessing and building centrifuges used to enrich uranium. The IAEA will meet Nov. 25 to judge Iran's compliance. Iran has said the agency has no authority to ban it from enriching uranium, a right granted under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. But Iran faces growing international pressure to suspend such activities as a good-faith gesture. Defying IAEA demands, Iran said earlier this month that it has converted a few tons of raw uranium into a hexafluoride gas, a stage prior to actual uranium enrichment. Uranium hexafluoride gas is the material that, in the next stage, is fed into centrifuges used to enrich uranium. Uranium enriched to a low level is used to produce nuclear fuel to generate electricity, and enriched further can be used to manufacture atomic bombs. |