Iran reacts to France, Russia, US letter

Iran says any proposal offered by the West that would include the shutdown of the Tehran research reactor would be out of the question.

“We will not consider any proposal that would lead to the closure of Tehran’s research reactor,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Wednesday.

Mehmanparast said it was totally unreasonable to expect Tehran to close down its own facilities and import medicine and nuclear-related technology.

He added that Iran would only give thought to proposals that are based on “interaction and cooperation.”

The spokesman’s remarks came in response to a letter by Russia, France and the US to the UN nuclear watchdog, which suggested that Iran close down its Tehran’s research reactors and obtain its much-needed medical isotopes from the world market instead.

The letter, a copy of which was obtained by Press TV, read that if Iran does not wish to accept a UN-opposed nuclear fuel swap deal, “We note that these (radioisotopes) are available in the market and could be obtained as a reasonable, timely and cost effective alternative to the IAEA’s proposal.”

The three partners said in their letter that they “recognize Iran’s need for assurance that the project would be fully implemented.”

However, they went on to count a number of provisions incorporated into the existing draft that, according to the three parties, provides the necessary assurances regarding their “collective commitment” to fulfill the IAEA proposal.

The US has been leading efforts to push Iran to accept a deal that demands Tehran to send most of its low-enriched uranium abroad for further processing for the research reactor, which runs on 20 percent-enriched uranium and produces medical isotopes for cancer patients.

Iran has called for “concrete” guarantees that the fuel would eventually reach the country’s soil but the demand has been shrugged off by the West, particularly the US, which has reiterated the deal would remain intact.

Buying fuel from the international market as an alternative source was not mentioned in the initial IAEA-backed proposal but France on Tuesday denied that the letter was presenting a new alternative to Iran.

French Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bernard Valero said that the letter was merely reminding Iran of the global community’s objectives, IRNA reported.

Iran announced on February 9 that it had started enriching uranium to the level of less than 20 percent to meet the country’s demand after potential suppliers failed to provide the required fuel.

Two days after that, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran had successfully produced the first stock of the 20 percent-enriched uranium, a declaration which was met with cynicism in the West.

Iran says it is still open to talks with the West provided that its “conditions” and “concerns” are valued