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Iran: West has accepted limited U-enrichment

DUBAI: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the West has agreed to accept that Tehran could carry out a limited quantity of uranium enrichment amid reports that the two sides are working on a new formulation to ease their tensions.

Mr. Ahmadinejad said the West had agreed to allow Iran to enrich using 5,000 to 6,000 centrifuges. His comments follow talks that the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany held with Iran on July 19. Iran had earlier reported that it could carry out enrichment using 3,000 centrifuges.

While Iran’s interlocutors have said they wanted Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment in return for a package of incentives, suggestions have been made that tensions could be eased if the freeze-for-freeze proposal was pursued.

Under this interim proposal, Iran should not expand enrichment from the current level for six weeks in return for a western commitment that it would not further tighten economic sanctions against Tehran for a similar period.

Iran on Friday warned western countries that pressuring it with artificial deadlines over its nuclear programme would hamper progress in talks.

The former President and current chairman of the Assembly of Experts, Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, said on Friday American and Israeli officials “must learn that an ultimatum will not help the nuclear standoff [between Iran and the West]”.

The Ayatollah was referring to the “two weeks” deadline that European Union (E.U.) foreign policy chief Javier Solana had announced following the Geneva talks. Mr. Solana had said Iran had a fortnight to accept the path of negotiations proposed by the West or face further isolation.

“Iran will continue talks to reach a mutual agreement in the nuclear dispute. Issuing ultimatums, setting timetables, and threatening Iranians with sanctions are not pragmatic,” said Ayatollah Rafsanjani.

Meanwhile, Israel is leading a campaign that emphasises the use of military force as an option to counter Iran’s nuclear programme. But, Ephrahim Halevy, former chief of Israel’s external intelligence Mossad, said in an interview to Time magazine that an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities could affect Israel “for the next 100 years.” Cautioning that a military strike against Iran should be launched only as a “last resort,” he said the use of such measures “will have a negative effect on the public opinion in the Arab world”.

Mr. Halevy had earlier stressed that Iran’s missile capability should not be taken lightly.

“I don’t think they are bluffing,” he said after Iran recently test-fired an array of missiles during a military exercise codenamed Great Prophet III.

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