Iran rejects West's demand to ship out uranium stockpiles

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Source: Reuters

Iran rejects West's demand to ship out uranium stockpiles

By Yeganeh Torbati and Fredrik Dahl
DUBAI/VIENNA | Sun Oct 13, 2013 12:47pm EDT

(Reuters) - Iran on Sunday rejected the West's demand to send sensitive nuclear material out of the country but signaled flexibility on other aspects of its atomic activities that worry world powers, ahead of renewed negotiations this week.

Talks about Iran's nuclear program, due to start in Geneva on Tuesday, will be the first since the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who has tried to improve relations with the West to pave a way for lifting economic sanctions.

Rouhani's election in June to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has raised hopes of a negotiated solution to a decade-old dispute over Iran's nuclear program that could otherwise trigger a new war in the volatile Middle East.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi's comments on Sunday may disappoint Western officials, who want Iran to ship out uranium enriched to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, a short technical step away from weapons-grade material.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/13/us-iran-nuclear-shipments-idUSBRE99C01T20131013

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1. Iran rejects West's demand to ship out uranium stockpiles

The idea of having Iran send its sensitive nuclear material out of the country turned out to be wishful thinking.

Iran has changed its leader and new President Rouhani has tried to improve relations with the West, obviously thinking about the lifting of economic sanctions by the West.
Rouhani's election in June to succeed Ahmadinejad created expectations of negotiaited solution to a decade-old dispute over Iran's nuclear program.

This matter has been in the works for more than a decade. The West has stood by its demand that Iran discards uranuim enriched to a fissile concentration of 20%, a short step away from weapons-grade material.

This posture only reconfirms previous Iranian claims.