Iran won’t relinquish enrichment right: Nuclear Source

A source close to the Iranian nuclear negotiating team says Tehran will not give up its right to enrich uranium under any conditions, Press TV reports.

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain — plus Germany will meet in the Swiss city of Geneva on November 7-8 to discuss Tehran’s nuclear energy program.

According to the source, Iran will be open to talks on the amount and level of uranium enrichment, but it will not agree to ship out its nuclear material.

Iran has also called on the Western side to engage in serious and substantive negotiations.

The talks come amid lobbying efforts by Israel in the US and some hawks in Congress who are deeply concerned by the Iranian government’s diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute with the West over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.

American senators Bob Menendez and Mark Kirk are pressuring the Congress into increasing the sanctions on Iran, which have cut supplies of vital medicines for cancer patients and hemophiliacs in Iran.

On Sunday, The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) said it will not slack off its efforts to force the administration of US President Barack Obama to impose new sanctions against Iran.

Iran and the six world powers wrapped up two days of nuclear talks in Geneva on October 16.

The US, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that the Iranian nuclear program has been diverted toward military objectives.