Iran Stopped Enriching Uranium to 20% - Iranian Lawmaker

RIA Novosti

17:01 24/10/2013

MOSCOW, October 24 (RIA Novosti) – Tehran has halted enrichment of uranium to 20 percent because it has enough stocks at the moment, a senior lawmaker was cited as saying by the Iranian parliament's website.

"The issue of suspension or halt of enrichment activities is meaningless because no production is taking place at the moment," said Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, deputy head of the Iranian parliament's security committee

"Iran's nuclear industry requires 20-percent enrichment for providing the fuel for its Tehran reactor, but this site has its required fuel at the moment and there is no need for further production," Hosseini said Tuesday.

The move would appear to be a concession to the 5+1 group of international negotiators – five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany – that are in talks with Iran over its nuclear program, which they claim may be aimed at producing nuclear weapons.

Uranium enriched to 20 percent could be used for a "dirty bomb" or further enriched to weapons-grade uranium with relative ease.

A diplomatic source told RIA Novosti last week that Iran proposed to the 5+1 group at talks in Geneva a temporary halt at 20-percent uranium enrichment in exchange for partial lifting of economic sanctions against the country.