Iran, Citing Nuclear Gains, Says It Is Ready to Talk

16.02.2012

Tehran

Iran announced advancements in nuclear fuel production while also offering to return to negotiations about the program, as Tehran comes under growing pressure to dial back its ambitions.

The reports of nuclear gains and new developments in the investigation of explosions in Thailand aggravated fears of a spreading conflict between Iran and Israel.

Thai police said three Iranians were in custody facing charges of attempted murder and possessing explosives after a bizarre series of blasts in Bangkok on Tuesday that the chief of police said was a botched plot to strike Israeli diplomats in the city.

Israel has accused Iran of also targeting Israelis in bombing incidents this week in the capitals of Georgia and India, and plots last month in Azerbaijan and Thailand.

"This is Iran's way of responding to pressure," said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. "These are low-tech, unsophisticated attacks and sometimes poorly executed. But they are designed to show that the reach of Iran and its proxies is increasing….I think we will see further attacks."

Iran on Wednesday denied any involvement in the alleged plots, while calling attention instead to a nuclear program that it says is for peaceful purposes but the United Nations nuclear agency says is aimed at weapons production.

In two advancements, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inserted the first domestically manufactured nuclear fuel rods into a research reactor in Tehran, and faster and newer Iranian-made carbon-fiber centrifuges were declared operational in Iran's main uranium-enrichment facility in Natanz.

The steps, though incremental, mean Iran now appears capable of producing an entire cycle of nuclear fuel, from extracting uranium ore to completing the fuel rods used to power plants.

Western countries and Israel worry that further enriching to a level sufficient to make a weapon is fairly straightforward and the advancements bring Iran closer to the ability to manufacture a nuclear weapon.

Iran said one year ago that it was capable of enriching uranium up to nearly 20%, a level considered high enough for a reactor that generates electricity but too low for a nuclear warhead.

Iranian State television broadcast images of Mr. Ahmadinejad clad in a white lab uniform and uttering an Islamic verse praising the Prophet Muhammad, pressing buttons and inserting the fuel rods into the reactor in Tehran.

Iran also said Saeed Jalili, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, sent a letter to the European Union on Wednesday indicating Iran was ready for talks, according to the state news agency, IRNA.