Iranian Pres. rejects western demand for handing over all enriched uranium

TEHRAN, Sept 27 (KUNA) -- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian described on Saturday as "unacceptable" a Western proposal for his country to hand over all its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in exchange for delaying UN sanctions for months.
"They demanded that we hand over all our enriched uranium and in exchange they give us a temporary relief of 90 days, which is absolutely unacceptable," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday.
"If we are to choose between the unreasonable demands of the Americans and the snapback, our choice is the snapback," Pezeshkian added, hours before the reinstatement of the UN sanctions on Tehran.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi disclosed in an interview with the Iranian TV that "the three European countries and the United States expected Iran to give up all its nuclear material or hand it over to them, in exchange for delaying the activation of the snapback mechanism by three or six months." "This is the height of a brazen approach toward us, and we will not submit to such humiliation," Araghchi said. "Iran will not accept the humiliating pressure over snapback." Earlier this month, the UN nuclear watchdog reported that Iran's stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60 percent had risen to an estimated 440.9 kilograms as of June 13, an increase of 32.3 kilograms since May 17.
Though Iran allowed inspectors back into its sites, Western powers said they saw insufficient progress to justify delaying sanctions, after a week of top-level diplomacy at the UN General Assembly. (end) mw.ibi