Iran to Begin the 20 Percent Enrichment Process on Tuesday.

 

Tehran, February 08, 2010 (Hamsayeh.Net) - Iran has officially informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its plan to begin enriching uranium to 20 percent purity level from Tuesday.

 

Iran’s permanent representative to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh told Iran’s English language Press TV, ‘Today we handed over the letter… Iran would use its nuclear stockpile to enrich uranium to supply its Tehran research reactor which produces medical isotopes.’

 

Iranian technicians would be able to enrich the required uranium fuel for Tehran’s medical reactor within 2-3 month time. Western powers reacted negatively to Tehran’s announcement with calls for further sanctions against Tehran.

 

Some European officials were sceptical of Iran’s ability to actually perform such difficult task without technical assistance from advanced countries. France’s Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, said today that he did not believe Iran had the ability to raise the enrichment level and the move by Tehran was simply a form of ‘blackmail’.

 

Iran has already announced plans to continue on with peaceful nuclear program for medical, scientific and electricity generations in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.