Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

An Iranian MP has said the enrichment of uranium to 20 percent is currently underway at the Fordow nuclear facility, dismissing allegations over its closure.

Esmaeil Kowsari, a member of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, said the nuclear activities at Fordow (located near the city of Qom) are currently carried out completely and without any problem, Press TV reported.

A team of Iranian lawmakers, headed by chairman of the parliament's foreign policy committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, inspected the nuclear enrichment facilities at Fordow on September 30.

Kowsari said that the plant is working according to schedule, enriching uranium up to 20 percent, and all the centrifuges at the site are working fine.

"During the visit, we saw that centrifuges which should have been installed at the Fordow site have been installed completely," Kowsari said.

He added that the lawmakers will also inspect the Natanz facility in the future.

Iranian MP Hossein Naqavi Hosseini said earlier that the visit by the lawmakers to nuclear enrichment facilities in Fordow and Natanz in central Iran is on a periodic basis.

In mid-September, German magazine Der Spiegel reported it has learned from intelligence sources that Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, is reportedly prepared to decommission the Fordow enrichment plant and allow international inspectors to monitor the removal of the centrifuges. In return, he could demand the United States and Europe to rescind their sanctions against Iran, lift the ban on Iranian oil exports and allow the country's central bank to do international business again.

However, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi, dismissed Western media information on the site's closure.

Iran decided to enrich uranium to the 20-percent level to provide fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor, which produces medical isotopes for cancer patients, after potential suppliers failed to provide Iran with the required uranium.

The West suspects Tehran's nuclear program may be aimed at developing nuclear weapons capability, but Iran insists it is purely for peaceful purposes.

Tehran has rejected the allegation, arguing that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.