Iran's parliament on Sunday accepted a bill urging the government to continue pursuing 20-per-cent uranium enrichment in the Natanz nuclear plant, state television reported. The resolution calls for resisting what the parliament called plots by the United States and Britain beside Iran's rights to pursue peaceful nuclear technology.
The measure was regarded as a representative political gesture, because nuclear decisions are made by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei through the National Security Council, not the parliament. Iran began the enrichment process in February, without any input from the parliament. A deal to swap low enriched uranium for nuclear fuel from Russia and France failed, and Iran started enriching its own fuel at the Natanz plant in the central part of the country.
Tehran claimed to have already created 20 kilograms of uranium enriched to the 20 percent level. The government also claimed it would be able to manufacture fuel rods for the Tehran medical reactor by March 2011, and then begin building of a new reactor to replace it. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has noted that Iran only began the process because the fuel exchange was not realized, and said he would prefer fuel from foreign sources because enrichment is costly.
The measure was regarded as a representative political gesture, because nuclear decisions are made by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei through the National Security Council, not the parliament. Iran began the enrichment process in February, without any input from the parliament. A deal to swap low enriched uranium for nuclear fuel from Russia and France failed, and Iran started enriching its own fuel at the Natanz plant in the central part of the country.
Tehran claimed to have already created 20 kilograms of uranium enriched to the 20 percent level. The government also claimed it would be able to manufacture fuel rods for the Tehran medical reactor by March 2011, and then begin building of a new reactor to replace it. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has noted that Iran only began the process because the fuel exchange was not realized, and said he would prefer fuel from foreign sources because enrichment is costly.
No comments:
Post a Comment