Russia urges Iran against uranium enrichment program

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia and other UN Security Council members have again urged Iran to freeze its uranium enrichment program, after Tehran announced plans to install new centrifuges at its Natanz nuclear facility, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, according to RIA Novosti.

Tehran notified the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) earlier in January that it plans to install more modern equipment at the Natanz site in central Iran, which has previously enriched uranium to 5 percent purity.

That has caused concern because the new gas centrifuges might allow Iran to refine large amounts of uranium to higher levels of purity, which would be suitable for a nuclear bomb, rather than fuel for an atomic power plant or other peaceful uses.

"The IAEA has been notified, and the IAEA will be there and will supervise this, but I'd like to repeat that this is a legal aspect of the matter, while the political aspect is that we, along with the other Security Council members, have called on Iran to freeze enrichment operations during the negotiations," Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.

“But they are doing everything in line with their commitments under the Safeguards Agreement," he added. The Safeguards Agreement between the IAEA and Iran was signed in 1974, and sets out safety measures covering Tehran's nuclear activity.