The White House says it is “very concerned” about Iran’s claim to be producing enriched uranium on an industrial scale, and has warned against “unacceptable” limits on the country’s cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
“We are very concerned about Iran’s announcement that they entered an ‘industrial stage’ of nuclear fuel production,” national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters.
“Iran continues to defy the international community and further isolate itself by expanding its nuclear program, rather than suspending uranium enrichment. Iran’s decision to limit even further its cooperation with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) is unacceptable.”
Mr Johndroe appeared to be referring to lead Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani’s warning that Iran will quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT] if international pressure on its enrichment program continues.
“If they pressure us further, we will have no choice but to reconsider our membership of the NPT as parliament has ruled,” Mr Larijani said.
He was referring to a law approved by Iran’s parliament last year allowing the government to reduce cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which conducts inspections of atomic plants under the treaty.
The UN Security Council has already imposed two packages of sanctions against Iran over its failure to heed ultimatums from the world body to suspend uranium enrichment.
“These actions deny the Iranian people the benefits they otherwise might enjoy under the incentives package offered by the US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany. We call on the Iranian regime to comply with its obligations to the IAEA and UN Security Council,” said Mr Johndroe.
Britain, France, Germany and Russia – backed by the United States – have offered Iran a package of economic and political incentives if it agrees to freeze sensitive nuclear work.
Iran’s government denies the American charge that its nuclear program is cover for an atomic weapons quest.
[This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1892980.htm]
Last Update: Tuesday, April 10, 2007. 6:35am (AEST)
courtesy of abc online
4 Responses
Iran is a religious dictatorship. Rarely is compromise avenue of choice when dealing with religious fanatics. As the west’s culture delves more and more into hedonism and moral relativism, Iran and other religious dictatorships will want to ‘compromise’ with the west less and less. For better or worse that is the nature of a religious dictatorship. Allah/God/Yahweh does not compromise with the devil, he defeats the devil. This is the mindset of a religious based government.
Posted on April 9th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
[...] into the atmosphere. This news represents the potential of an extreme scenario, assuming that Iran does acquire nuclear weapons, it actually could render a close neighbor, because the Fajr-3 is only a medium range missle, [...]
Posted on April 10th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
The real question I think is whether Iran wants nuclear weapons status, or whether they really want a “world without Zionizm” and to “wipe Israel off the map”. A nuclear weapon could help them achieve these stated goals, but they would be utterly defeated in an all out war if they used a nuke. Hopefully the world will not come to that. Hopefully all of these “talks” and delays with deadlines and what not does not equal the policy of appeasment by the west towards Hitler’s militarization leading up to WWII.
Posted on April 12th, 2007 at 3:35 am
[...] has gotten their 3,000 centrifuges operational at their nuclear facility at Natanz. This represents uranium enrichment on an industrial scale, which is exactly what is needed to produce the volume of fissile material for a nuclear warhead. [...]
Posted on November 8th, 2007 at 3:03 am
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