Reza Kahlili / WND
Fulfilling a request of Barack Obama’s administration reported exclusively by WND, Iran Saturday announced its promise as outlined in the secret negotiations with the U.S. to suspend uranium enrichment to the 20 percent level for its nuclear program.
During an interview with the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA), Mohammad Hassan Asefri, member of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, announced that Iran has halted the enrichment to the 20 percent level and at the same time requested the removal of sanctions by the West.
Asefri said that the halt is a sign of goodwill by Iran but it requires a positive response from the West.
“In order to build trust, the Islamic regime has set aside the 20 percent enrichment process. It is expected that the 5+1 will remove the sanctions. If such action does not take place, Iran will continue with its process of reaching peaceful nuclear energy,” said Asefri
Shortly thereafter though, the Fars News Agency (which is run by the Revolutionary Guards), put up a short statement saying that the 20 percent enrichment continues and that any announcement on the country’s nuclear activity will only come from the office of the Supreme National Security Council. It is possible that Asefri might have given away the big announcement prematurely or it might indicate that there are still major rifts between the differing factions of the regime for such announcement to be made prior to U.S. elections, or simply that Fars News Agency’s announcement serves for internal consumption.
The 20 percent enrichment has been a major concern to world powers as it would allow Iran to move rather quickly to weaponization grade should it decide to do so.
However, Asefri did not address the fact that Iran already holds enough low enriched uranium for six nuclear bombs if it is further enriched and the current stock of the 20 percent enriched uranium kept at the Fordo facility. Also, as of the release of this news, there has been no official verification by the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, that Iran has indeed halted the 20 percent enrichment out of its Natanz and Fordo nuclear facilities. This is while reports, just days ago, confirmed that IAEA inspectors have verified that Iran has installed the last of nearly 3000 centrifuges in the underground site at Fordo.
continue at WND:
http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/islamic-regime-announces-suspension-of-uranium-enrichment/
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