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Iran not to retreat one step from nuclear rights

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-10 22:53

TEHRAN: Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said that the Islamic Republic will not retreat one step from the nuclear rights of its nation, the local satellite Press TV reported Tuesday.

Jalili said that Iran is now enjoying its full right to peaceful nuclear energy thanks to the country's dynamic and active foreign policy, the report said.

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His team would defend the country's inalienable rights in all areas, including in the ongoing negotiations over buying fuel for the Tehran research reactor, he was quoted as saying.

Iran has taken an "active approach" in its nuclear talks with the major powers ... and it will continue on the path of progress in using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, Jalili told a group of students on Monday.

A draft agreement, presented earlier by chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed ElBaradei, has called for shipping most of Iran's existing low-grade enriched uranium to Russia and France to be processed into fuel rods with a purity of 20 percent as the fuel for Tehran's research reactor.

However, Tehran has said that requiring it to hand over huge amounts of its enriched uranium in exchange for nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor is a digressive issue and not acceptable. Iran has threatened that in case of pressures on Iran, the country will buy its high-grade enriched uranium from foreign suppliers without exchange of its low-enriched uranium.

The United States, Russia and France have approved the draft deal, but Iran said it wanted amendments and more talks on the issue.