Iran open to meeting of nuclear experts

September 24, 2009 11:02:54 PM

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Iran is open to a meeting of its nuclear experts with counterparts from the United States and other countries to dispel unease about Tehran's nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told US media Wednesday.

At talks with world powers next week about its nuclear drive, Iran will also offer to purchase enriched uranium from the United States for medical purposes, the firebrand Iranian leader told The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine.

"Why not just let them sit and talk and see what kind of capacity they can build? I think it is good thing to happen," Ahmadinejad said of Iran's readiness to allow its nuclear experts to meet with international scientists about the program that has raised the hackles of the West and Israel.

Iran has not previously allowed such a meeting and it would mark a historic first.

About 20 medical products are currently being created at a nuclear research reactor -- which serves to produce radioactive isotopes to diagnose and treat diseases -- located in Tehran but more fuel is needed, according to Ahmadinejad.

The medical reactor was supplied by the United States during the rule of the US-backed shah, who was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that sparked a now three-decade long freeze of ties between the two countries.

"These nuclear materials we are seeking to purchase are for medicinal purposes... It is a humanitarian issue," he said in the wide-ranging, hour and a half interview.

"I think this is a very solid proposal which gives a good opportunity for a start" to build trust between the United States and Iran and "engage in cooperation."

His comments came on a day where major global powers stepped up their pressure on Iran to fully disclose its nuclear program or face another round of sanctions, with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev making a seeming about-face in backing "sometimes inevitable" sanctions.

Medvedev and US President Barack Obama discussed "serious additional sanctions" on Iran, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy said a December deadline must be set for Tehran to show progress in talks with world powers on its nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad said the new proposal would be presented by a senior Iranian diplomat when he meets counterparts from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany in Geneva on October 1.

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