Iranian deputy FM calls on US to avoid Hindering talks with Iran

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi once again rejected any negotiation on Tehran's right of enrichment, and asked the US not to put hurdles on the path of the Iran-powers talks. "Our position is completely clear on the enrichment issue; enrichment is the Iranian people's right and therefore this right is not negotiable and we will never negotiate over enrichment itself," Araqchi said in an interview with the Iran-based Arabic-language al-Alam news channel on Monday. "The dimensions, range, size and details of enrichment can be an issue for negotiations and as we have said, we are ready to pay attention to and remove the concerns, and not the excuses, of the other side," he added. Asked about the Zionist media's claims about the details of the recent talks between Iran and the world powers in Geneva, which  the two sides decided to keep confidential, Araqchi said, "They (Israel and the US) are no doubt partners and on the same front, but these are the Americans themselves who should prevent the destruction of the atmosphere of the negotiations." He, meantime, said that the other side has not revealed the details of the negotiations yet and the reports released about them are all media speculations. Araqchi who is also a senior member of the country's team of nuclear negotiators said earlier this month that Tehran is ready to negotiate over the form, amount and level of its uranium enrichment during the upcoming talks with the world powers, but taking the country's enriched uranium stockpile abroad is no way acceptable. "We, of course, will negotiate on the different forms, amounts and levels of enrichment, but sending the (nuclear) materials out of the country is our redline," Seyed Abbas Araqchi said in a televised interview with Iran's state-run TV last Sunday. He underlined that Iran's enrichment right and protecting the Iranian nation's rights are the other redlines in negotiations with the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, France, Britain and China plus Germany), and said, "We will not retreat even an iota from whatever the Iranian nation is entitled to have based on the international treaties." Araqchi underlined that Iran "will obviate all the rational concerns of the opposite side to the talks", and added, "These negotiations are on the nuclear issue, but if they show interest, we will also be ready for talks on the regional issues and other international challenges." His remarks came after certain western media and officials raised a proposal saying that Iran will agree with transferring its 20-percent-enriched uranium supplies to reach an agreement with the West over its nuclear program. The United States and its Western allies have been demanding that Iran cease enriching uranium to 20 percent grade. Tehran has refused to scuttle its enrichment activities, citing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which allows nations to process uranium for civilian uses like energy production and medical research. Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran had recently reduced its 240-kilogram stock of 20 percent uranium to 140 kilograms, a 42 percent drop, by converting it to fuel rods for Tehran's medical research reactor. He also said the rest of the stockpile was being converted as well. Fordo enrichment facility hosts Iran's uranium enrichment to the purity level of 20 percent which is needed for fueling a research reactor in Tehran which produces radioisotopes for medical purposes. The western media claimed recently that Iran's new president Hassan Rouhani is willing to shut down its nuclear facility if the West agrees to lift Islamic republic's sanctions. Salehi strongly rejected western media reports claiming that Tehran has raised a proposal to the West to close its Fordo uranium enrichment facility near the Central city of Qom for lifting sanctions against the country. "The closure of Fordo site is a sheer lie," Salehi told reporters at the end of a cabinet meeting in Tehran in September.