Iran vows to resume nuclear enrichment

TEHRAN – Iran raised the stakes in the standoff with the international community over its nuclear activities yesterday, announcing it would resume uranium enrichment even before the UN nuclear watchdog meets next month.

“(Iran) will not wait for the IAEA meeting on March 6 to resume enrichment,” government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA on February 4 voted to report Iran to the Security Council, but left a one-month window for diplomacy, for Iran to return to a full suspension of enrichment-related work and cooperate more with IAEA inspectors.So far Iran has reacted by doing the opposite, setting the scene for a major showdown.The government spokesman also announced that talks between Tehran and Moscow aimed at finding a compromise by having Iranian uranium enriched on Russian soil would not go ahead as planned on Thursday.”The negotiations have not been cancelled but the date for the talks is another matter,” he said.The two sides had been set to develop Moscow’s proposal for uranium enrichment — which makes reactor fuel but can be extended to make the core of a nuclear weapon – to be carried out on Russian soil.The spokesman said “new elements” were responsible for the delay, notably the fact that the Iranian government “insists that uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes is carried out inside the country.”CAUTIOUS SUPPORT Russia’s idea is to guarantee Iranian access to nuclear fuel needed to generate electricity but at the same time prevent the country from developing fuel-cycle technology by itself and therefore the capacity to make a bomb.The plan has received conditional and cautious support from the Western powers.But Iran, which says it only wants to generate electricity, has been reluctant to give up what it sees as a right to enrich on its soil.Iran’s stance has also hardened after the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation board of governors voted on February 4 to report the Iranian case to the UN Security Council, which could impose sanctions.On Saturday, the Islamic republic’s outspoken President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also warned that Iran could follow the path of North Korea and quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”Iran has continued its nuclear drive within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the NPT, but if we see that you want to deprive us of our right using these regulations, know that the people will revise their policy in this regard,” Ahmadinejad said.The NPT is the cornerstone of the global battle against the spread of nuclear weapons, prohibiting the development of the bomb and subjecting its signatories to IAEA inspections.Iran is under intense pressure to agree to a moratorium on nuclear fuel work that can be extended to make weapons, but insists it only wants to generate electricity and argues that its nuclear ambitions are therefore entirely legal.- Nampa-AFPThe IAEA on February 4 voted to report Iran to the Security Council, but left a one-month window for diplomacy, for Iran to return to a full suspension of enrichment-related work and cooperate more with IAEA inspectors.So far Iran has reacted by doing the opposite, setting the scene for a major showdown.The government spokesman also announced that talks between Tehran and Moscow aimed at finding a compromise by having Iranian uranium enriched on Russian soil would not go ahead as planned on Thursday.”The negotiations have not been cancelled but the date for the talks is another matter,” he said.The two sides had been set to develop Moscow’s proposal for uranium enrichment — which makes reactor fuel but can be extended to make the core of a nuclear weapon – to be carried out on Russian soil.The spokesman said “new elements” were responsible for the delay, notably the fact that the Iranian government “insists that uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes is carried out inside the country.”CAUTIOUS SUPPORT Russia’s idea is to guarantee Iranian access to nuclear fuel needed to generate electricity but at the same time prevent the country from developing fuel-cycle technology by itself and therefore the capacity to make a bomb.The plan has received conditional and cautious support from the Western powers.But Iran, which says it only wants to generate electricity, has been reluctant to give up what it sees as a right to enrich on its soil.Iran’s stance has also hardened after the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation board of governors voted on February 4 to report the Iranian case to the UN Security Council, which could impose sanctions.On Saturday, the Islamic republic’s outspoken President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also warned that Iran could follow the path of North Korea and quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”Iran has continued its nuclear drive within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the NPT, but if we see that you want to deprive us of our right using these regulations, know that the people will revise their policy in this regard,” Ahmadinejad said.The NPT is the cornerstone of the global battle against the spread of nuclear weapons, prohibiting the development of the bomb and subjecting its signatories to IAEA inspections.Iran is under intense pressure to agree to a moratorium on nuclear fuel work that can be extended to make weapons, but insists it only wants to generate electricity and argues that its nuclear ambitions are therefore entirely legal.- Nampa-AFP