Iran's foreign minister: Iran will decide how much uranium

Iran will decide the level of uranium enrichment in its nuclear programme based on its energy and other civilian needs, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in remarks reported Saturday.

His remarks appeared to conflict with the landmark nuclear deal struck with world powers in Geneva last weekend, which states that the enrichment level must be mutually defined and agreed upon by both sides in further negotiations.

"Iran will decide the level of enrichment according to its needs for different purposes," Zarif said late Friday night, according to the official IRNA news agency.

"Only details of the enrichment activities are negotiable," he said, referring to a final accord with the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany -- known as the P5+1 group -- that the parties hope to negotiate within a year.

Israel and Western powers hope the final accord will drastically scale back Iran's enrichment programme, which is currently producing the low-enriched uranium required for electricity and medical isotopes but could be ramped up to produce the highly enriched uranium which is a key element of a nuclear weapon.