IRANIAN PRESIDENT: WORLD POWERS ACCEPT TEHRAN’S RIGHT TO ENRICH URANIUM

Lausanne, 14 Jumadil Akhir 1436/3 April 2015 (MINA) –Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said Iran will keep its promises if the other side does, referring to Thursday’s preliminary nuclear agreement.

“The world has acknowledged Iran is pursuing its peaceful objectives,”he said during a press conference on Friday as quoted by RT.com and Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

Rouhani said Tehran’s nuclear enrichment issue “is not a threat” to any other nation, and if the other sides keep their promises under the deal Iran will too.

“If we’ve given a promise … we will take action based on that promise. Of course, that depends on the other side acting on their promises too,” he said.

The Iranian president called the deal a “historic” event that will go down in the “memory of the Iranian people.”

He added the deal is a big step forward for the Islamic republic as it legitimizes Iran’s nuclear program before the international community.

“We have defended our sovereignty,” he said, adding Iran’s nuclear program “threatens no one.” He elaborated that many countries have been engaged in nuclear fuel production, and the deal would lift restrictions that hinder Iran’s economic growth.

“It’s a breakthrough not only in the nuclear sphere but in many others,” he said. Rouhani looked forward to the “positive changes” in the lives of Iranians that would follow the deal.

“And before June 30 we have to make the most important step on the conclusion of the final agreement,”he said.

On Thursday, Iran and world powers reached an agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program following eight days of talks in Switzerland.

The results will serve as a framework for a future comprehensive nuclear agreement between Iran and the six powers, to be concluded by a June 30 deadline.

The agreement would see Iran enriching uranium to 3.67 percent, which enables the creation of nuclear energy, but is not enough to build nuclear weapons. Iran would be obliged to cut its centrifuges from 19,000 to 6,104, with 5,060 for enrichment.

Tehran would also cut the amount of uranium stockpiles it keeps from 10,000 kilograms to just 300 kilograms and increase transparency with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by providing access to all nuclear facilities in the country.

The Fordow facility is to be converted into a nuclear physics center and would contain no fissile material. The heavy water research reactor in Arak would be redesigned so it can’t produce weapons grade plutonium.

It was also agreed that the Natantz facility would remain the only uranium enrichment complex in the country and there will be no reprocessing of uranium. The spent fuel will be exported.(T/R04/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)