Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday announced his country plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment facilities, with work starting on at least five sites within two months, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, Nov. 25).
(Nov. 30) -
A helicopter lands outside Iran's Natanz facility in 2006. Tehran yesterday announced plans to build 10 additional sites for enriching the nation's uranium (Getty Images).
"We annually must produce between 250 to 300 tons of nuclear fuel," Ahmadinejad said.
The United States and several European nations have long sought a permanent halt to Iran's uranium enrichment program, which they fear could be aimed at generating nuclear-weapon material. Tehran, though, has insisted the effort is strictly geared toward civilian applications such as power production.
Iran's power demands will burgeon over the next 15 years, Ahmadinejad said.
Tehran's pursuit of the new enrichment goal "would be yet another serious violation of Iran's clear obligations under multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions and another example of Iran choosing to isolate itself," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
Iran could need years to prepare the new sites, the Post reported, noting that the nation's Natanz uranium enrichment facility is not yet operating at its planned capacity after eight years of preparation (Thomas Erdbrink, Washington Post, Nov. 30).
Iran is "hyping" its ability to expand its enrichment capacity, David Albright, head of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, told the New York Times.
"They couldn’t build that number of centrifuges. They don’t have the infrastructure,” Albright said (Sanger/Broad, New York Times, Nov. 30).
Iran announced the new enrichment goal after the International Atomic Energy Agency's governing board last week adopted a resolution renouncing the nation's failure to promptly report construction of its Qum uranium enrichment facility, according to the Associated Press (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press I/Yahoo!News, Nov. 30).
The resolution -- backed by Russia, China and 23 other board members -- calls on Iran to halt work on the unfinished site and to verify that no other clandestine enrichment facilities are under construction in the Middle Eastern state, Reuters reported.
"We will not implement any word of [the resolution] because this is a politically motivated gesture against the Iranian nation," said Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
"Such gestures ... are certainly destructive. They spoil the existing cooperative environment. But neither sanctions nor the threat of military attacks can interrupt our peaceful nuclear activities even for a second," Soltanieh said.
Iran might choose to end "voluntary gestures" of cooperation with the Vienna-based agency, such as its recent decision to permit expanded monitoring of the Natanz facility, the official added (Mark Heinrich, Reuters I/Yahoo!News, Nov. 27).
Meanwhile, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said there is little benefit to remaining a member nation to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
"I believe that their moves are harming the NPT the most," the former top Iranian nuclear negotiator said in a seeming reference to the new IAEA resolution. "Now whether you are a member of the NPT or pull out of it has no difference" (Parisa Hafezi, Reuters II, Nov. 30).
U.N. Security Council member nations could move to impose new economic penalties on Iran if it fails to comply with the resolution, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said. The Security Council has already hit the Middle Eastern state with three rounds of international sanctions (Heinrich, Reuters I).
The White House said the IAEA governing board vote "underscores broad consensus in calling upon Iran to live up to its international obligations and offer transparency in its nuclear program."
"The United States has strongly supported the ... proposal to provide Iran fuel for its Tehran research reactor -- a proposal intended to help meet the medical and humanitarian needs of the Iranian people while building confidence in Iran’s intentions," Gibbs said in a statement.
Under the U.N. plan, Iran would ship roughly 70 percent of its low-enriched uranium to other nations for further refinement. The material would then be returned to Iran for use in a medical research reactor. Iranian leaders last month indicated they would accept the proposal, but have since suggested it would not be acceptable in its current state.
"The United States has recognized Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy and remains willing to engage Iran to work toward a diplomatic solution to the concerns about its nuclear program, if -- and only if -- Iran chooses such a course," Gibbs added, noting that Iran has refused to continue talks on its nuclear program with the five permanent Security Council member nations and Germany.
"Our patience and that of the international community is limited, and time is running out. If Iran refuses to meet its obligations, then it will be responsible for its own growing isolation and the consequences," he said (White House release, Nov. 27).
Outgoing IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei last week said he was "disappointed" that Iran had not accepted the uranium transfer proposal, AP reported.
"There has been no movement on remaining issues of concern which need to be clarified for the agency to verify the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program," he added in a statement to the IAEA governing board. "We have effectively reached a dead end, unless Iran engages fully with us" (Associated Press II/Yahoo!News, Nov. 30).
Elsewhere, Russia yesterday indicated it would soon finish work on Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant.
"Russia will complete the Bushehr nuclear power plant at the earliest (possible) time," Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said, according to Iranian state media.
Shmatko did not specify a new deadline for wrapping up work on the facility. Earlier this month, Moscow backed off its pledge to complete construction of the plant by the end of 2009.
"The quick completion of the Bushehr power plant is the most important issue for both the Iranian and Russian atomic energy organizations and technical steps in this regard are under way based upon the scheduled plans," the official said (Reuters III/Ynetnews, Nov. 29).