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Iran says it will enrich uranium to higher level
Iran said Wednesday it will enrich uranium to a higher level on its own, the latest indication the country was rejecting a U.N.-backed proposal aimed at thwarting any effort by Tehran to make material for a nuclear weapon. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted Iran will not negotiate with the West over its nuclear program.
"You should know that even if you sizzle (from impatience or desire to talk) ... the Iranian nation won't talk to you concerning the nuclear issue," he said.
Ahmadinejad made the comments after expressing frustration with the ongoing negotiations over the U.N. proposal that Iran exchange the bulk of its low-enriched uranium for more highly enriched fuel rods to be used in a medical research nuclear reactor.
Low-enriched uranium can be used as fuel for nuclear energy, but enriched to much higher levels, it can be used as material for a weapon. Iran currently has one operating enrichment facility that has churned out around 3,300 pounds (1,500 kilograms) of 3.5 percent enriched uranium over the past years, but the country needs fuel enriched to 20 percent to power a medical research reactor.
"I declare here that with the grace of God, the Iranian nation will produce 20 percent (enriched uranium) fuel and anything it needs itself," Ahmadinejad told a cheering crowd of thousands in the central city Isfahan.