Saturday, November 14, 2009

Iran Military Chief Backs Nuclear Deal

Iran's armed forces chief of staff Major General Hassan Firouzabadi said on Friday he backs proposals for Tehran to ship out stocks of low-enriched uranium in return for fuel for a reactor designed to produce medical isotopes.

"We won't suffer from an exchange of fuel," the Mehr news agency quoted the general as saying.

"On the contrary, in obtaining fuel enriched to 20 percent purity for the Tehran reactor, a million of our citizens will benefit from the medical treatment it can enable and we will prove at the same time the bona fides of our peaceful nuclear activities."

The general reportedly stated he had no particular issue with the amount of low-enriched uranium that Iran shipped out -- 1,200 kilos (more than 2,640 pounds) under the current proposals drawn up by the UN nuclear watchdog and approved by the P5+1.

"The quantity of uranium enriched to 3.5 percent that will be shipped out in order to obtain the fuel is not so large as to cause damage," he said.

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