Translated material
Nuclear irreversibility
Iran is not going to suspend work with uranium
“Uranium enrichment, nuclear research and development activities are irreversible,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said at a press conference in Tehran yesterday. According to him, demands for Tehran to suspend nuclear work “are not on the agenda.”Mr. Asefi's words came a few days before the UN Security Council meeting on Iran scheduled for April 28. On March 29, this body called on Tehran to suspend all activities in the nuclear field and instructed the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Egyptian Muhammad ElBaradei, to report on Iran’s actions within a month.
Tehran used the allotted time to increase work in the nuclear field. Iranian leaders announced the successful enrichment of an experimental batch of uranium in the country and the upcoming increase in capacity. At the same time, Tehran recalls the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program. In the near future, the Iranians will hold a tender for the construction of two new nuclear power plants in Iran (the Russians are currently completing the construction of the nuclear power plant in Bushehr).
One of the ways to resolve the crisis continues to be Russia's proposal to create a joint venture on its territory to enrich uranium for Iranian nuclear energy. Negotiations have been going on for months, but there are still no agreements. Tehran is not against the creation of a joint venture, but demands in return that it be allowed to enrich uranium at home in small quantities for scientific purposes - but this contradicts the position of the UN and the IAEA.
True, at the end of last week, the Iranian representative to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltaniye, said at an international conference in Moscow that Iran and Russia had allegedly already agreed on everything. However, as it turned out, Mr. Soltanie was not fully understood. He meant that the parties agreed “in principle,” and this is not news. As for the details of possible agreements, disagreements remain large.