Iran not to give up rights to 20-pct uranium enrichment: cleric

2012-05-25 13:51:18 GMT2012-05-25 21:51:18(Beijing Time) Xinhua English

TEHRAN, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian cleric said Friday that the Islamic republic will not give up its right to produce enriched uranium to a purity level of 20 percent, the semi- official Mehr news agency reported.

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, Tehran's Friday prayer's leader, made the remarks in a sermon at the University of Tehran one day after Iran and six world powers held a new round of nuclear talks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

The Baghdad talks were concluded Thursday with a plan to hold another round of talks in Moscow next month.

"The other side in this round of talks demanded that we halt 20- percent uranium enrichment. This is what the Europeans promised three years ago to supply us with enriched uranium that we needed to save the lives of one million patients, but they did not do so and reneged on their promise," Khatami was quoted as saying.

"Now that Iran has acquired the ability to produce 20-percent enriched uranium with reliance on national scientists, it will not retreat," he added.

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