Iran adamant on uranium enrichment on own soil

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jan. 02 – The spokesman for the hard-line government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted on Monday that Iran had a “right” to carry out uranium enrichment, the process that could lead to the development of a nuclear bomb, on its own soil, despite efforts by Russia to have it transfer the work to Russian soil to ease international concerns. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 02 – The spokesman for the hard-line government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted on Monday that Iran had a “right” to carry out uranium enrichment, the process that could lead to the development of a nuclear bomb, on its own soil, despite efforts by Russia to have it transfer the work to Russian soil to ease international concerns.

The West believes Tehran is trying to make atomic weapons under the cover of peaceful nuclear activities. The Russian proposal involved Tehran carrying out its sensitive enrichment work on Russian soil under strict international monitoring.

Gholam-Hossein Elham, however, told journalists at his weekly press conference that Tehran would study the Russian proposal on the basis that it could carry out enrichment domestically as well.

Secretary-general of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani officially rejected on Sunday any Russian proposal that would overlook Iran’s right to enrichment within its own borders.

The offer would deny Tehran’s right to “be in charge of its own fate” on energy matters, Larijani told state television.