TEHRAN, 18 April 2006 — Iran’s top nuclear official vowed yesterday that the government would press on with uranium enrichment work despite mounting international pressure to freeze its sensitive nuclear activities. “Why should Iran suspend its research activities?” Ali Larijani, the head of the Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
Enrichment can be extended from making reactor fuel to the production of warheads, but Larijani branded a UN Security Council demand for a suspension by April 28 as “not rational.” “One should not follow such propositions ... which are not rational,” he said, adding: “Iran will follow its nuclear program with patience.” Last Tuesday, Iran announced it had successfully enriched uranium to the level needed for reactor fuel, reigniting fears that the hard-line regime would soon acquire the technical know-how to make bombs.
The deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Saidi, argued that the UN nuclear watchdog had failed to find any proof that Iran’s program was anything other than a legitimate effort to generate electricity. “Therefore, there is no need to continue a suspension,” he told the Etemad-Melli newspaper. “These countries have to accept the reality and realize they are talking with a country that masters this technology.”
The five permanent members of the Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany meet in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss the issue amid a US push for robust UN action. The United States has said punitive measures such as freezing Iranian assets or imposing travel restrictions on senior officials will be on the agenda of the meeting.
In Tokyo, a Foreign Ministry official said Japan would send a senior envoy to Iran by the end of the month to urge it to stop uranium enrichment — following up on similar efforts by China and International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed El-Baradei. But Larijani dismissed US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s talk of the Security Council adopting a resolution, which could allow the use of force against Iran. “Such statements are not new and will not affect our determination,” he said.
And speaking during a visit to Kuwait, Iran’s influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said he was certain the Islamic republic’s Gulf neighbors would not support any US assault. “The talk about a US attack on Iran is nonsense and we are sure the Americans would not want create problems for themselves,” he said.
Larijani also implicitly confirmed comments by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Iran was working on using advanced P-2 centrifuges — devices that can enrich at a much faster rate than the P-1 technology Iran is presently using. When asked about the new work, Larijani replied that Iran “will continue research work within the framework” of the IAEA.
