Teharan Open to Meeting of Iranian and Western Nuke Experts
Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that his country is open to a meeting of its nuclear experts with counterparts from the United States and other countries to allay unease about Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Taking to The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine, Iranian president said that Iran, at talks with world powers next week about its nuclear drive, would offer to purchase enriched uranium from the United States for medical purposes.
About Iran’s preparedness to allow its nuclear experts to meet with international scientists about the programme that has raised the hackles of the West and Israel, Ahmadinejad said, “Why not just let them sit and talk and see what kind of capacity they can build? I think it is good thing to happen.”
In the past, no such meeting was allowed by Iran and any such permission would mark the historic first.
According to Ahmadinejad, nearly 20 medical products are presently being prepared at a nuclear research reactor – which serves to produce radioactive isotopes to diagnose and treat diseases – located in Tehran, but more fuel is required.
It may be mentioned that these reactors were supplied by the US to Iran during the US-backed Shah regime, which was overthrown in the 1979 by Islamic Revolution ushering in a three-decade long freeze of ties between the two countries.
“These nuclear materials we are seeking to purchase are for medicinal purposes… It is a humanitarian issue,” he said in the wide-ranging, hour and a half interview.
“I think this is a very solid proposal which gives a good opportunity for a start to build trust between the United States and Iran and engage in cooperation.”
His comments came on a day where major global powers stepped up their pressure on Iran to fully disclose its nuclear program or face another round of sanctions, with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev making a seeming about-face in backing “sometimes inevitable” sanctions.
