TEHRAN - Iran has produced 17 kilograms of uranium enriched to the 20 percent level, an official announced on Wednesday.   “(We) have produced over 17 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium, and we have the ability to produce 5 kilograms a month, but we are not in a hurry,” Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Director Ali Akbar Salehi said during a visit to the ISNA news agency.   Iran will continue to enrich uranium up to the purity level of 20 percent to the extent the country needs, Salehi stated.

This is “Iran’s legitimate right,” he added.   The production line for enriching uranium to the purity level of 20 percent at the Natanz nuclear plant is separate from the one for enriching uranium to 3.5 percent purity, he explained.   Salehi also said Iran possesses the technology required to produce the nuclear fuel rods it needs for the Tehran research reactor.   He went on to say that Iran is still ready to hold talks on its nuclear program with the West and still prefers interaction.   Commenting on the Tehran declaration, Salehi said it was a gesture of goodwill, but the United States and some other Western countries chose to adopt an approach based on confrontation.   According to the declaration, which was signed by the foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, and Brazil in Tehran on May 17, Iran would ship 1200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey to be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel rods to power the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.   On President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent remarks on Iran’s new conditions for resuming talks with the West, Salehi said, “(We) hope that we can negotiate with the Vienna group (the U.S., Russia, and France) within the framework of the Tehran declaration and that the starting point for our talks over the fuel exchange will be the Tehran declaration.”   Iran is optimistic that Tehran and the Vienna group can eventually reach an agreement, but it will probably not happen soon, he added.
Elsewhere in his remarks, he said the West is not putting pressure on Iran, through sanctions and other means, only to undermine the country’s nuclear program, but rather, they are using the nuclear issue as a pretext to make it difficult for Iran to pursue its political goals.   The UN Security Council approved the fourth round of sanctions against Iran in a 12-2 vote on June 9, but Brazil and Turkey voted against the resolution and Lebanon abstained.
Salehi also said that the West is now using another way to pressure Iran, namely by making unfounded accusations about human rights violations in the country.