WORLD / Middle East
Iran vows to push nuke program
(AP)
Updated: 2007-02-02 08:34
An Iranian man holds a picture of the late revolutionary foundar
Ayatollah Khomeini at his mausoleum, just outside Tehran, Iran, Thursday,
Feb. 1, 2007, in a ceremony commemorating the 28th anniversary of his
return from exile. On Feb. 1, 1979, after 14 years in exile, Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini returned from Paris and became the de facto leader of
Iran. [AP]
TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched anniversary
celebrations Thursday for Iran's Islamic Revolution with a defiant
promise to push ahead with the country's controversial nuclear program.
Ahmadinejad suggested Tehran would announce next week that it is
beginning to install a new assembly of 3,000 centrifuges in an
underground portion of its uranium enrichment facility at Natanz that the
U.S. has warned could bring further sanctions against the country.
The Iranian leader said his government is determined to continue with its
nuclear program, despite U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed over its
refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel to
generate electricity or for the fissile core of an atomic bomb.
Kicking off 10 days of celebrations to mark the 28th anniversary of the
1979 Islamic revolution that brought hard-line clerics to power,
Ahmadinejad said Iran will celebrate next week "the stabilization and the
establishment of its full right" to enrich uranium at the facility.
The chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, said
last week that he expected Iran to announce "they are going to build up
their 3,000 centrifuge facility" in February. There had been speculation
the announcement could come during the revolution anniversary.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said Iran would face
"universal international opposition" over the step. "If they think they
can get away with 3,000 centrifuges without another Security Council
resolution and additional international pressure, then they are very
badly mistaken," Burns said last week
The installation would be a major jump in Iran's uranium enrichment
program, though it could take months to set up the 3,000 centrifuges and
get them working. In the process, uranium gas is spun at supersonic
speeds in a connected array of centrifuges to purify it. Uranium enriched
to around 5 percent is used for fuel for a nuclear reactor; enriched to
95 percent, it can be used to build a warhead.
Iran now has two cascades of 164 centrifuges each. Tens of thousands are
needed for a continuous program. The status of the new centrifuges has
been unclear as Iranian officials gave contradictory statements over the
past month. Tehran originally said last year that the installation would
begin by the end of 2006, but January came and there was no word the work
had started.
On Sunday, an Iranian lawmaker said installation had begun, but he was
quickly contradicted by officials from the country's Atomic Energy
Organization. Mohammad Saeedi, the agency's deputy head, said, "If we
begin to install centrifuges, we will publicly announce it."
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