Iran may halt 20% enrichment

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Tehran will consider halting uranium enrichment to the level of 20 percent when it is assured the Tehran research reactor has the nuclear fuel supply it needs.

Ahmadinejad made the remarks during a press conference in New York on Friday.

“We were not interested to enrich to 20 percent. They [the US and its allies] politicized the issue. We were forced to do it to support the patients,” he said.

But he added, “We will consider halting [20 percent] uranium enrichment whenever nuclear fuel is provided to us.”

He went on to say that Iran would still allow UN inspectors to oversee its nuclear activities, but called on them to conduct their inspections within the framework of IAEA rules and regulations.

Ahmadinejad also stated that Tehran is open to talks over its nuclear energy program, adding that an Iranian envoy will meet with representatives from the P5+1 group — the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany — in October for preparatory talks.

“We are ready for talks. The doors are open for talks, within the framework of justice and respect,” he added.

The Iranian president also said that some members of the six international powers negotiating on the nuclear issue had had contacts with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week.

He suggested that a specific date could be set should European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton contact the Iranian representative.

Defending his proposal for the formation of an independent UN probe into the September 11, 2001 attacks, Ahmadinejad said, “The event was very suspicious, but I do not wish to pass judgment. I simply tried to offer a proposal for a humane solution to problems that have arisen as a result of 9/11.

“Don’t you feel that the time has come to have a fact-finding committee?

“The fact-finding mission can shed light on who the perpetrators were, who al-Qaida is, where it exists, and who supported it.”

In his address at the UN General Assembly session in New York on Thursday, President Ahmadinejad criticized the US response to the 9/11 attacks, saying the incident was used as a pretext to invade Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Saturday, President Ahmadinejad departed from New York and headed back to the Islamic Republic of Iran.