“Iran Capable to Produce Nukes but Won’t Do It”

Local Editor

Iran has the knowledge and scientific
capability to produce nuclear weapons
but will never do so

Iran has the knowledge and scientific capability to produce nuclear weapons but will never do so, a prominent lawmaker said, The Associated Press reported Saturday.

Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam said Iran can easily produce the highly enriched uranium that is used to build atomic bombs but it is not Tehran’s policy to go that route.

“Iran has the scientific and technological capability to produce (a) nuclear weapon, but will never choose this path,” Moghadam told the parliament’s news website, icana.ir, late Friday.

The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charges, saying its program is peaceful and geared toward generating electricity and producing radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.

The Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has repeatedly insisted that his country is not seeking nuclear weapons, saying that holding such arms is a sin as well as “useless, harmful and dangerous.”

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has also asserted that if Iran one day decides to build nuclear weapons, it will do so openly and won’t fear anybody.

According to the Associated Press, Iran enriches uranium to about 3.5 percent to produce nuclear fuel for its future reactors and also to around 20 percent to fuel a research reactor that produces medical isotopes to treat cancer treatment. Uranium has to be enriched to more than 90 percent to be used for a nuclear weapon.

The U.N. nuclear agency has also confirmed that centrifuges at the Fordo site near Iran’s holy city of Qom are churning out uranium enriched to 20 percent, and says uranium enriched to that level can more quickly be turned into weapons-grade material.

Source: Agencies
07-04-2012 - 16:33 Last updated 07-04-2012 - 16:33

Obama Messages Iran via Turkey

Local Editor

President Obama has signaled Iran that the United States would accept an Iranian civilian nuclear program if Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei can back up his recent public claim that his nation “will never pursue nuclear weapons,” The Washington Post reported Friday.

The verbal message was sent through Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei last week. A few days before traveling to Iran, Erdogan had held a two-hour meeting with Obama in Seoul, in which they discussed what Erdogan would tell the Ayatollah Khamenei about the nuclear issue and Syria.

However, “Obama didn’t specify whether Iran would be allowed to enrich uranium domestically as part of the civilian program the United States would endorse,” the American journalist, David Ignatius wrote, who has close ties with the White House officials.

Obama's proposal, Ignatius said, stated that Sayyed Khamenei must confirm his statements made on February 22 through a tangible commitment, when he said that “the Iranian nation has never pursued and will never pursue nuclear weapons.”

“The challenge for negotiators is whether it’s possible to turn Khamenei’s public rhetoric into a serious and verifiable commitment not to build a bomb,” the daily added.

The Supreme Leader and various Iranian officials have repeatedly declared that Iran is not after the atomic bomb production.

During the recent months, the unsuccessful Zionist attempts towards the U.S. administration to attack Iran were circulated by media outlets.

The revealed facts of Washington Post came on the eve of negotiations resumption of the P5+1 on the nuclear file of Iran, scheduled for next week.

Source: Websites
07-04-2012 - 14:13 Last updated 07-04-2012 - 14:15

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