US President George W. Bush said Monday that Iran would have no legitimate need to enrich uranium at home after Russian deliveries of nuclear fuel to the Islamic Republic.

 

"If the Russians are willing to do that -- which I support -- then the Iranians do not need to learn how to enrich. If the Iranians accept that uranium for a civilian nuclear power plant, then there's no need for them to learn how to enrich," Bush told a mass rally in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

 

"Iran was a threat to peace, Iran is a threat to peace, and Iran will be a threat to peace if we don't stop their enrichment," Bush said.

 

Insisting that Iran is "heading down a path of isolation right now and economic sanctions," Bush said "We passed two resolutions out of the UN and (US Secretary of State) Condi Rice is working on a third."

 

Also on Monday, US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters here that Russian nuclear supplies to Iran is another reason for Tehran to suspend its sensitive uranium enrichment.

 

"This fuel delivery provides Iran with one more reason to suspend their nuclear program. If the Russians are providing the Iranians fuel, the Iranians have no reason to enrich uranium themselves," Johndroe said.

 

Bush and Johndroe made the remarks about Iran after the Russian contractor company Atomstroiexport announced earlier in the day that Russia supplied the first batch of nuclear fuel to Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant.

 

A total of 163 main and 17 reserve assemblies of U-235 enriched to 3.62 percent would be delivered for the first loading, the company said in a statement. All the deliveries will be made in several stages over two months.

 

Washington accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran always denies US charges, insisting that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2007)