MOSCOW, April 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is concerned that Iran says it has produced enriched uranium, but still hopes that the crisis surrounding the country's nuclear program can be resolved peacefully, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday on national television that the Islamic Republic had successfully completed a research-scale nuclear fuel cycle by enriching uranium to a degree sufficient for use in nuclear power plants, but insisted that it had no ambitions to develop nuclear weapons.
"The reports from Iran cause concern, as the facts run counter to the IAEA board of governors' resolution and the UN Security Council chairman's statement," ministry official Andrei Krivtsov said.
The UN Security Council, which has the power to impose punitive measures on countries found to be in breach of their international obligations, issued a resolution March 29 urging Iran to re-impose a moratorium on uranium enrichment, and gave the head of the UN nuclear watchdog a month to prepare a report.
International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohammed ElBaradei is slated to visit Iran April 12-13, and to report to the UN Security Council on the country's compliance with its international nuclear non-proliferation commitments by the end of April.
"We believe that Iran will take advantage of IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei's visit to outline concrete ways for the settlement of the Iranian nuclear problem," Krivtsov said.
Iran has faced accusations of pursuing a covert nuclear-weapons program, and repeatedly rejected calls that it stop all uranium enrichment activities. Officials in Tehran have said Iran's nuclear programs are purely civilian and that it has the right to produce nuclear fuel.
Naturally occurring uranium typically contains about 0.7% of the U-235 isotope needed for the fission process, and has to be enriched to about 3-5% for use as fuel in most reactors. Weapons-grade uranium is enriched up to roughly 90%.
Russia, which is helping Iran build an $800-million nuclear power plant at Bushehr and has mediated in the long-running dispute, said Tuesday that an offer to enrich uranium for Iran's nuclear power plants was still open and that it looked forward to planned talks between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic. Iran had rejected the Russian offer, saying it did not want to be dependent on other countries for nuclear-fuel supplies.
"[The proposal] is still on the table and remains an important part of search for solutions" to the long-standing impasse around Iran's nuclear program, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
