Iran Not to Negotiate Its Nuclear Redlines

(FNA)- A senior Iranian lawmaker underlined the necessity for continued nuclear activities in the country based on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) rules and rights, and said Tehran would never negotiate over its redlines, including its right of uranium enrichment, during the talks with the world powers.

Member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Esmayeel Kosari said on Sunday that uranium enrichment, operation of Fordo enrichment facility and stockpiling Iran's enriched uranium inside the country are not liable to negotiation at all.

"Negotiation on these issues is meaningless," he said, and added that Iran's enriched uranium both has been stockpiled on the basis of the NPT rules and is targetted for peaceful purposes.

"Negotiation on the nuclear redlines is meaningless," he added.

In relevant remarks on Wednesday, Chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi strongly rejected western media reports claiming that Tehran plans to raise a proposal during its upcoming talks with the six world powers on the closure of its Fordo uranium enrichment facility in return for the annulment of sanctions.

"It is an irrelative word. Fordo will never be closed and will continue its work," Boroujerdi said in a meeting with Secretary of State at the Swiss Foreign Ministry Yves Rossier in Tehran.

"We in the parliament will not allow such a thing to happen," he added.

Also on Monday, another senior Iranian legislator said Fordo ufacility near the Central city of Qom, where Iran enriches 20-percent-grade uranium, is in full operation.

"The centrifuges at Fordo have been installed completely and the facility is in full operation and without any problem or deficiency," member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mohammad Esmayeel Kosari told FNA.

"The 20% enrichment is undergone at the site (Fordo)," he added.

Fordo enrichment facility hosts Iran's uranium enrichment to the purity level of 20% which is needed for fueling a research reactor in Tehran which produces radioisotopes for medical purposes.

The western media claimed recently that Iran's new president Hassan Rouhani is willing to shut down its nuclear facility if the West agrees to lift Islamic republic's sanctions.

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi strongly rejected western media reports claiming that Tehran has raised a proposal to the West to close its Fordo underground uranium enrichment facility near the Central city of Qom for lifting sanctions against the country.

"The closure of Fordo site is a sheer lie," Salehi told reporters at the end of a cabinet meeting in Tehran in September.