国际英语新闻:Iran to upgrade uranium enrichment to 60 pct if West pushes for sanctions: lawmaker

TEHRAN, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran will upgrade the level of uranium enrichment to 60 percent if the West pushes for further sanctions against Tehran, a senior Iranian lawmaker was quoted as saying by semi-official Fars news agency Thursday.

Rapporteur of Iran's parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Hossein Naqavi-Hosseini, said his country needs 60 percent enriched uranium for the operation of its submarines.

The words by Naqavi-Hosseini followed a motion by 100 Iranian lawmakers on Wednesday, which, if passed, will oblige the government to produce 60 percent enriched uranium in line with the requirements of the country's nuclear program, said the report.

"In case the (Western) sanctions are intensified, new sanctions are imposed, Iran's nuclear rights are violated or the Islamic republic's peaceful nuclear rights are ignored and if the bill receives the (parliament) approval, the government will be required to complete the nuclear infrastructures in Fordow and Natanz (nuclear enrichment sites)," another lawmaker Mehdi Moussavinejad told Fars.

Under such circumstances, "the government will (also) be obliged to launch Arak heavy water reactor," he added.

In November, Iran and the P5+1 group -- United States, Britain, France, Russia, China plus Germany -- reached an agreement whereby Iran agreed to freeze part of its nuclear program in exchange for limited ease of sanctions which had hurt its economy.