Iran says may dilute highly enriched uranium if all sanctions lifted
Iran may water down its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in return for the lifting of all US sanctions, the country’s atomic chief said on Monday.
Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, was responding to a question about the possibility of diluting uranium enriched to the purity of 60%.
“This issue depends on whether, in return, they lift all the sanctions or not,” Eslami told reporters in Tehran, according to ISNA.
Iran began a new round of talks with the United States on Friday in Muscat, the capital of Oman, over its nuclear program, amid a US military buildup in the Persian Gulf.
Washington reportedly has put forward several demands, including a halt to Iran’s uranium enrichment, the removal of Iran’s stockpile of 60% enriched uranium from the country and a curb on the range of Iran’s missiles. Iranian officials have repeatedly rejected the demands.
Eslami also flatly denied reports that Iran had agreed to hand over the 60% uranium to a third country, describing them as speculation produced by “pressure groups.”
“Such a thing has not been on the agenda, and even if it was, [certain] countries made proposals to contribute to the talks. Such a thing has not been discussed in the negotiations,” he said.
The latest talks resumed after a seven-month hiatus since June, when Israel attacked Iran during exchanges between Tehran and Washington.
The strikes resulted in the deaths of more than 1,000 military personnel and civilians, including senior commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and nuclear scientists.
A few days after the Israeli aggression, which lasted 12 days, the United States bombed three Iranian nuclear sites.