Iran marks nuclear technology day, reiterates right to uranium enrichment

TEHRAN, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman on Tuesday reiterated his country's right to uranium enrichment activities as the Islamic republic marked National Nuclear Technology Day.

Confidence building in the nuclear talks should be reciprocal and the P5+1 group (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) in this regard is to "recognize uranium enrichment right of the Iranian nation," Ramin Mehmanparast said in his weekly press briefing.

The behavior of the P5+1 group in the negotiations is a factor which determines the outcome of the talks, he said, adding that the West should give up its hostility against Iran.

If Iran's right to civilian nuclear program on the basis of the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) is respected, then hopes can be raised for the outcome of the talks, said Mehmanparast.

After the two-day nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 group concluded on Saturday in Almaty of Kazakhstan, both sides said that the gap of positions over some key points could not be bridged.

While Iranian officials said any mechanism to settle Iran's nuclear issue in the talks should take into consideration Iran's right to uranium enrichment activities, the revised proposal by the world powers asked Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment and shut down its underground Fordow enrichment facilities in return for limited sanction lift.

Also on Tuesday, Iran inaugurated several nuclear-related projects marking the National Nuclear Technology Day.

In a ceremony broadcast live from Iran's state IRIB TV, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated Shahid Rezaeenejad Yellowcake (uranium concentrate powder) complex in the city of Ardakan in the central province of Yazd.

The Islamic republic also launched Saghand uranium complex in Yazd, projected to extract uranium from 350-meter depth under the ground.

The official IRNA news agency reported Monday that the extracted uranium will be processed into Yellowcake in Shahid Rezaeenejad complex.

Besides, Ahmadinejad unveiled an industrial electron accelerator during a ceremony in Tehran on Tuesday, semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The accelerator has been designed and developed by Iranian experts and enables the country to make use of a wider range of radiations. The machine is used for various medical and industrial purposes, according to the report.

The Iranian president also unveiled five new radio-medicines which were developed and produced by Iranian experts at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and with the cooperation of the presidential office for science and technology, said Fars.

On Sunday, Iran's Vice-President for Science and Technology Nasrin Soltankhah said, the new radio-medicines are to be used for "diagnosing and curing refractory diseases, cancer in particular."

Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that the country has made such achievements despite the enemies' political and sanction pressures.

Also, head of the AEOI, Fereidoon Abbasi, expressed his appreciation for Iranian experts and engineers' "huge progress" in the field of civilian nuclear technology, saying that the country has managed to create a stable condition in all parts of its nuclear industry.

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