Iran's nuclear official: Iran left with no choice but master nuclear technology

As thousands of Iranian cancer patients suffer, Iran's deputy chief nuclear negotiator says that upgrading the country's nuclear capability is not only the country's right but also an absolute necessity.

Ali Baqeri, who is also a member of the Supreme National Security Council, told reporters Monday that the "uncivilized" behavior of some western countries has left around 850 thousand Iranian cancer patients without required medicines.

Their approach, he continued, has left Iran with no choice than to expand its domestic nuclear expertise to accommodate our patient's desperate need for vital medicines.

Thousands of Iranian patients, in need of post-surgery drug treatment with nuclear medicine, will suffer if domestic production dries up when a research reactor in Tehran runs out of fuel.

The Tehran research reactor, which produces 20 different kinds of radio-medicine for cancer patients, runs on uranium that is some 20 percent U-235 - an enrichment level higher than what is currently produced at Iran's Natanz enrichment facility.

Iran has requested the International Atomic Energy Agency to arrange for supplying of the fuel to the country. The West has been pressuring Iran to accept a UN-backed draft deal which requires Iran to send most of its domestically-produced low enriched uranium (LEU) abroad for conversion into the more refined fuel that the Tehran reactor requires to produce medical isotopes.

However, Iran has called for "concrete guarantees" on the timely delivery of the refined fuel, as some Western countries, namely France and Germany, have previously failed to adhere to their nuclear commitments to Tehran.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Saturday declared that Tehran has discussed the issue with French and Brazilian officials at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos.

"Following discussions with French and Brazilian officials, new ideas with regard to supplying fuel for the Tehran (research) reactor have been raised," Mottaki said.

"We hope that the other side (the Western powers) will be realistic, so that a clear outcome can be achieved," he added.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Yukio Amano, who was also present in Davos, indicted that the talks were part of the ongoing discussions on the issue.

"Dialogue is continuing," Amano told reporters on Friday.

/Press TV/