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Uranium Enrichment, â€˜Iran’s rightâ€™

30 May 2012 22:15 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Enriching uranium to 20 percent is Iran’s right, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview with French television network France 24 on Wednesday, APA reports quoting Ria Novosti.

â€œEnriching uranium to 20 percent is not a step towards a bomb,â€ he said, adding that 20 percent enriched uranium was no more threatening than 3.5 percent enriched uranium.

The president said he did not expect "miracles" from the upcoming talks between representatives of the six powers and the Islamic Republic in Moscow next month.

Iran seeks to have Western sanctions eased before considering suspension of 20 percent enrichment.

The country’s nuclear chief said on Sunday there was no reason to halt production of uranium enriched to 20 percent, a key demand by world powers, and Iran is planning two new reactors. Fereidoun Abbasi said Iran will continue the enrichment for a medical research reactor that produces isotopes for treatment of about 1 million cancer patients in Iran.

Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, but Western countries accuse it of covertly developing a nuclear bomb.

Tehran has been slapped with several sets of economic sanctions by the UN in recent years over the lack of transparency in its nuclear program.