TEHRAN, May 28: Iran’s constitutional watchdog approved a bill on Saturday that obliges the government to develop a nuclear fuel cycle — a step opposed by Washington.

The bill, passed by Iranian parliamentarians on May 15, calls on the government ‘to take action to obtain peaceful nuclear technology, including provision of the fuel cycle for generating 20,000 megawatts of electricity’.

State television reported that the conservative Guardian Council, composed of six religious figures and six lawyers, had approved the bill, passing it into law.

The bill does not say when Iran should produce the nuclear fuel, and most analysts see it as a bargaining chip in talks with France, Germany and Britain, which are trying to get Iran to end its work on making nuclear fuel.

Iran has frozen its work on the nuclear fuel cycle, giving the EU trio until early August to propose a compromise.

Iran has so far been unimpressed by the economic incentives offered by the three EU powers and has said it will never surrender its fuel programme in return for such ‘carrots’. Iran insists it has every right to turn uranium ore mined in its central deserts into fuel for nuclear power stations such as the one being built with Russian help at Bushehr.

Washington and the European Union are seeking a deal with firm guarantees that the fuel will not be diverted into atomic warheads. —Reuters