Iran insists will not suspend enrichment: Report

Tehran, Aug 21: Iran will not suspend uranium enrichment, the main demand in a nuclear package backed by six world powers, an Iranian official said today.

He said Tehran would formally respond to the package tomorrow a deadline Iran had earlier set itself.

''Considering the technical advancement of Iranian scientists, the suspension of uranium enrichment is not possible any more,'' the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Mohammad Saeedi, was quoted as saying on Iran's Fars News Agency. He added that Iran would deliver its reply today.

Iranian officials have previously insisted Iran would not stop enrichment, a process that has military and civilian uses, but world powers were hoping to sway that decision.

''Iran's answer is very comprehensive and creates a very appropriate opportunity for the West to solve Iran's nuclear case through negotiations and dialogue,'' he said of the response that will come tomorrow.

The West accuses Iran of seeking to develop atomic weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear programme. The West says Iran must halt enrichment before any talks can start.

Tehran denies it seeks to make bombs, saying it only wants to enrich uranium to make fuel for nuclear power plants.

In addition to concerns about enrichment, Western nations are also worried about a heavy-water nuclear reactor being built at Arak, 190 km southwest of Tehran. The plant's plutonium by-product can be used to make atomic warheads.

''The major heavy water project of Iran will be inaugurated in the very near future,'' Saeedi said.

Spent fuel can be processed to extract weapons-grade plutonium. The plutonium can also be mixed with enriched uranium to produce fuel for a special type of nuclear reactor.

Reuters

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