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Iranian MPs reject offer to shut Fordo nuclear facility

18 February 2013 14:49 (UTC+04:00)
Iranian MPs reject offer to shut Fordo nuclear facility

By Sara Rajabova

Iranian lawmakers have rejected the West's offer to ease some sanctions in exchange for the closure of the Fordo uranium enrichment plant.

In an open parliamentary session held on Sunday, the Iranian parliamentarians shrugged off the offer by the major world powers on suspension of the sanctions on trade in gold and precious metals in case Iran agrees to close the plant, Press TV reported.

The major powers are reportedly planning to make the offer during talks scheduled between Iran and the six powers of the P5+1 group - the U.S., France, Russia, Britain, China, and Russia plus Germany - in Kazakhstan on February 26.

Fordo is designed to contain 16 cascades of centrifuges producing 20%-enriched uranium, which experts say could be enriched to about 90%, or weapons-grade, in a relatively short time. The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said half of the cascades could be fully operational within months.

The MPs stated that such an offer from the West is considered illicit within the framework of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

During the discussions, Parliamentary Foreign Policy and National Security Committee head Alaeddin Boroujerdi stated that the Fordo site will never be shut down.

"...the point is that the closure of Fordo is basically unacceptable and in our opinion Fordo is a center which will be never shut down," Boroujerdi noted.

"This proposal means helping the Zionist regime [of Israel] to carry out its threats and threaten our facilities. Although the Zionist regime would never dare to do so, we should not create conditions in the country to tempt the enemy," the MP stated.

Another Iranian MP, Mehdi Sanaei, said that the West's proposal to close the Fordo nuclear facility is considered illegal in the framework of IAEA.

Last Saturday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei called for the destruction of nuclear weapons across the world, saying Iran never plans to build such arms.

"We believe that nuclear weapons must be obliterated, and we do not intend to make nuclear weapons, but if we had not had this belief and had decided to possess nuclear weapons, no power could have prevented us," Ayatollah Khamenei said.

In late January, Israeli and Western media reported a blast at the Fordo facility near Qom that caused significant damages.

However, Iran denied the foreign media reports of a major explosion at the site.

Deputy head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Saeed Shamseddin Bar Broudi, called the reports "Western propaganda" designed to influence forthcoming nuclear talks.

A leaked report by the IAEA reportedly said last November that Iran was ready to double its output of 20%-enriched (medium-enriched) uranium at the Fordo site.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies accuse Iran of pursuing military objectives under the guise of its peaceful nuclear energy program. Iran rejects these allegations, arguing that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and as a member of the IAEA, it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

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