Iran still ready to swap nuclear fuel with any country even with the US, says President Ahmadinejad

TEHRAN, Feb. 16, 2010, (Xinhua) --

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Iran is still ready to exchange its low-grade uranium for 20 percent uranium fuel with any country even with the United States.

The file of "nuclear swap has not been closed," Ahmadinejad said in a live press conference broadcast from state-run IRIB TV.

"The fuel swap should be done simultaneously," he said, adding that Iran is ready to exchange nuclear fuel with any country "even with the United States."

Asked about the probable sanctions by the West, he said that " It is better for them to move on the path of cooperation. Any decision by them will not cause problem for us."

"For sure, if any (country) decide to adopt any measure against Iran, our response...will be retaliative which will make them regret," he added.

On the possibility of suspending 20 percent uranium enrichment by Iran, he said that "If they (West) provide the 20 percent uranium fuel, the condition will be changed (implying the suspension of the process), but if not...we will produce ourselves and won't wait for them."

Ahmadinejad announced last Thursday that Iran had produced first batch of 20 percent enriched uranium under the watch of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

He denied the western claims that Iran's nuclear program may end in building the atom bombs.

Last week, Iran handed over a letter to the IAEA, informing it about it's plan to produce 20 percent enriched uranium, provoking fresh warnings from the West of new sanctions.

The United States and its western allies have been accusing Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under the disguise of a civilian program. Iran has denied the accusation and stressed its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.

Editor: yan

Ahmadinejad Warns of Iran's Crushing Response to New Sanctions

TEHRAN, (FNA), Feb. 16, 2010 --

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday stressed Tehran's decisive and crushing response to any attempt to impose new sanctions on the country over its peaceful nuclear program.

"If any measure is taken against Iran, our response will not include advice and enlightening explanations like what we did in the past, rather a reciprocating action will certainly be taken which will, as always, make them regret," Ahmadinejad said at a press conference here in Tehran today, responding to questions about Tehran's possible reaction to the recent attempts made by certain European countries to approve new sanctions against Iran over the latter's peaceful nuclear program.

"We have heard words and views are expressed (in this regard), but this literature basically belongs to the past, the literature of sanction belongs to an era which is coming to its end," he continued.

"We believe that it is now the time for some to open their eyes and adjust themselves to the real changes and developments which are happening," the Iranian president said.

"Some countries may be making efforts to repeat their previous experiences, but this won't make any problem for us for we have learned in the last 31 years to live under the most cumbersome conditions and attain the highest speed of progress at the same time," he added.

"We believe they (the western powers) had better correct themselves and move on the path of cooperation," President Ahmadinejad stated.

Iran and the West are at loggerheads over Tehran's nuclear program. Iran says its nuclear program is a peaceful drive to produce electricity so that the world's fourth-largest crude exporter can sell more of its oil and gas abroad and provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

The US and its western allies allege that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program while they have never presented corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations against the Islamic Republic.

Analysts believe that the United State's opposition to Iran is mainly due to the independent and home-grown nature of Tehran's nuclear technology, which gives the Islamic Republic the potential to turn into a world power and a role model for other third-world countries. Washington has laid much pressure on Iran to make it give up the most sensitive and advanced part of the technology, which is uranium enrichment, a process used for producing nuclear fuel for power plants.

Iran is under three rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment, saying the demand is politically tainted and illogical.

Tehran has so far ruled out halting or limiting its nuclear work in exchange for trade and other incentives, saying that renouncing its rights under the NPT would encourage world powers to put further pressure on the country and would not lead to a change in the West's hardline stance on Tehran.

Iran has also insisted that it would continue enriching uranium because it needs to provide fuel to a 300-megawatt light-water reactor it is building in the southwestern town of Darkhoveyn as well as its first nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.

Tehran has repeatedly said that it considers its nuclear case closed as it has come clean of IAEA's questions and suspicions about its past nuclear activities.

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