Everyone is "very concerned", but no one is willing to do anything. Seems like Ahmadinejad is taking a page out of the Saddam play book and trying to lore the Allies to attack.
Iran announces tenfold expansion of nuclear program
US, Europe question nature of activity
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Iran announces tenfold expansion of nuclear program
Iran announced a dramatic expansion of its uranium enrichment program on Monday, saying it has begun operating 3,000 centrifuges - nearly 10 times the previously known number - in defiance of UN demands that it halt the program or face increased sanctions. The announcement brought quick condemnation from the United States and Europe.
"I proudly announce that as of today Iran is among the countries which produce nuclear fuel on an industrial scale," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a gathering at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran.
Iran, which announced a year ago it had produced its first tiny batch of enriched uranium, had said it would install 3,000 centrifuges as a first stage toward "industrial-scale" output. Until now, Iran was only known to have 328 centrifuges operating.
Chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani was quoted by Mehr News Agency as saying Iran had "reached the capacity of 3,000." Asked if feedstock uranium gas had been injected into them, he told reporters: "Yes, we have injected gas."
He did not elaborate if all the centrifuges were working.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that Iran's actions are the reason the UN Security Council and the UN nuclear watchdog "don't believe Iran's assurances that their [nuclear] program is peaceful in nature." The White House said that it was "very concerned" that Tehran had started industrial atomic work.
A British Foreign Office spokesman described Ahmadinejad's announcement as "a further breach of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and UN resolutions."
The move showed Iran was "definitively going in the wrong direction," said the Foreign Ministry in Germany, which currently holds the presidency of the European Union.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he hoped the Islamic Republic would "engage in dialogue ... It is very important for any member country to fully comply with the Security Council resolution."
In Vienna, the IAEA declined to comment on Iran's announcement and said its inspectors would report to the agency's board of governors at their next meeting on June 11.
Ahmadinejad said Iran would not bow to pressure to stop its atomic work, which he insisted was a right under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
"Iran has so far moved in a completely peaceful path and wants to continue following this path, they should avoid doing something which forces this nation to review its behavior," Ahmadinejad said.
In an indication of more tensions ahead, Larijani warned that Iran would quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if international pressure on its enrichment program continued.
"If they pressure us further, we will have no choice but to reconsider our membership of the NPT," thus reducing cooperation with the IAEA which inspects atomic plants under the treaty, Larijani said.
He said that his country was willing to offer assurances that its program is peaceful. But he said the West must accept its nuclear program as a fact.
"We are ready to reach understanding with the Westerners through a corridor of real negotiations - in the current situation, in which Iran's nuclear activities have been concluded," state television quoted Larijani as saying.
Iranian state television reported Monday that an Iranian Revolutionary Guards general who is under travel restrictions urged by UN sanctions has visited Russia without any difficulty.
General Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, who is also deputy interior minister for security affairs, was quoted on the state television Web site as saying that his six-day journey to Moscow, which ended Monday, showed "the ineffectiveness of the resolution."
The resolution urges all governments to forbid visits by the 15 individuals.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Krivtsov confirmed that Zolqadr visited Russia. He said the resolution does not prohibit visits by the listed individuals, but calls for heightened vigilance "directed first of all at people who are directly related to nuclear programs" - suggesting that Zolqadr was not.