Teheran halts 20% uranium enrichment

Iran has halted its most sensitive uranium enrichment work, a senior Iranian parliamentarian was quoted as saying, a move that would meet a main demand of world powers negotiating with Teheran over its disputed nuclear work.

Any such development would be a big surprise, however, as Western experts believe Iran would want to use its higher-grade enrichment as a bargaining chip to win relief from stringent sanctions that have damaged the Iranian economy.

Iran's enrichment of uranium to levels of 20 percent is sensitive as it is a relatively short technical step to increase that to the 90 percent needed for making a nuclear warhead.

Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, a senior member of the parliamentary national security commission, said Iran had stopped enriching uranium above the 5 percent required for civilian power stations as it already had all the 20-percent enriched fuel it needs for a medical research reactor in Teheran.

"Enrichment over 5 percent depends on the needs of the country; Iran's nuclear industry requires 20-percent enrichment for providing the fuel for its Teheran reactor, but this site has its required fuel at the moment and there is no need for further production," parliament's website quoted Hosseini as saying.

"Teheran will decide whether to have over 5-percent enrichment or not itself, but the issue of suspension or halt of enrichment activities is meaningless because no production is taking place at the moment," he said.

Iran's production and stockpile of 20-percent uranium is closely watched in the West and Israel.

The Jewish state, believed to be the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East, has suggested it could launch military strikes if Iran acquired enough of the material for one bomb, but Iran has kept its 20-percent stockpile below that level.

In a separate development, the UN nuclear watchdog wants to inspect sensitive sites and meet important officials - including a mysterious military man - in Iran as part of an investigation into suspicions that Teheran may have worked on designing an atomic warhead.

However, the diplomats say Iran will probably agree to cooperate fully with an investigation by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency only if a broader deal is reached in separate negotiations with six world powers.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has raised hopes of an end to international deadlock over the nuclear program by promising to engage with the West, in return for an easing of sanctions that are damaging the Iranian economy.

The Vienna-based IAEA has been investigating accusations for several years that Iran may have coordinated efforts to process uranium, test explosives and revamp a missile cone in a way suitable for a nuclear warhead.

The Institute for Science and International Security estimated that Iran could now produce enough weapons-grade uranium for one bomb, about 25 kg, in as little as about 1-1.6 months, if it used all its 20 percent stockpile.

Reuters-Xinhua

(China Daily 10/25/2013 page11)