PARIS : Iran does not have the capacity to enrich uranium to 20 percent for use in its research reactor, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday, accusing Iran.
The Iranians "do not know how to make fuel" for their existing medical reactor, he told reporters at a meeting in Paris. "For what purposes do they want to enrich it to 20 percent?" he demanded.
Iran's announcement that it plans to enrich uranium to 20 percent "is really blackmail. One could call it diplomacy, but if that is what is then it is truly negative," said Kouchner.
"That is not serious and we alas cannot apply anything other than sanctions since negotiation is not possible," he said.
Tehran's announcement raised the stakes in a dispute with the West days after seeming to accept a UN-drafted nuclear deal.
World powers fear that Tehran wants to enrich uranium to very high levels for use in an atomic weapons programme, and hence want to remove its low-enriched uranium through the UN-drafted deal.
Iran says its nuclear enrichment drive is purely peaceful.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2010
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