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Decision raises dispute with West:
Iran to enrich uranium
IRAN: Iran will begin enriching uranium to 20 percent from Tuesday,
the Islamic Republic’s Atomic Chief announced on Sunday just hours after
being told to do so by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The decision raises the stakes in a dispute with the West less than a
week after Iran had appeared to accept a UN-drafted nuclear deal on the
supply of fuel for a research nuclear reactor in Tehran.
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Uranium |
| * Decision
raises the stakes in a dispute with the west
* Move drew fire from Britain
and the United States |
Ahmadinejad’s move drew fire from Britain and the United States, and
analysts said it was a bid to exert pressure on Washington and drive a
wedge between the six powers over attempts to impose new sanctions on
Tehran.
“We will inform the IAEA in a letter tomorrow (Monday) of our
intention to enrich uranium to 20 percent,” Ali Akbar Salehi told the
Arabic-language Al-Alam television, referring to the International
Atomic Energy Agency.
“The higher enrichment will begin at the Natanz plant from the day
after tomorrow (Tuesday),” he added. Natanz is in the central province
of Isfahan. Earlier, in a speech at an exhibition on laser technology
broadcast live on state television, Ahmadinejad blamed world powers for
the stalemate over the stalled nuclear fuel deal.
“I had said let us give them (world powers) two to three months and
if they don’t agree, we would start ourselves,” he said.
“Now Dr Salehi, start to make the 20 percent with the centrifuges,”
he told the atomic chief who was in the audience, referring to
high-enriched uranium required to make fuel to power the research
reactor. Britain and the United States condemned the declaration.
“Reports that Iran is planning to enrich some of their fuel to 20
percent level of enrichment are clearly a matter of serious concern,” a
spokeswoman for the foreign office said in London.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates called for mounting “international
pressure” on Iran.
“The international community has offered the Iranian government
multiple opportunities to provide reassurance of its intentions. The
results have been very disappointing,” Gates said in Rome.
“If the international community will stand together and bring
pressure on the Iranian government, I believe there is still time for
sanctions and pressure to work. But we must all work together.”
World powers fear that Tehran wants to enrich uranium to very high
levels for use in an atomic weapons programme, and therefore want to
remove its low-enriched uranium (LEU) through the UN-drafted deal.
Tehran, Monday, AFP |
