TEHRAN, 17 November 2006 - Iran’s president said yesterday his country was about to take the “final step” in its nuclear program, in a fresh statement defying UN calls to halt work the West believes is aimed at building atomic bombs.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not say what the final step was, but he repeated comments he made this week that Iran would celebrate its “right to nuclear technology” by March, the end of the Iranian year, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Tehran, which says its nuclear plans are peaceful, faces possible sanctions for ignoring UN demands to halt sensitive atomic work, but there is no agreement at the UN Security Council on any penalties. Analysts say this may be encouraging Iran in its defiant line.
“The Iranian nation is about to take its final step in the nuclear issue,” IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying, adding that Iran would “resist until the end.” “I hope that by the end of the year we will be able to hold celebrations about the Iranian nation’s right to nuclear technology,” he said.
“If they (Western powers) do not abandon their stubborn behavior regarding our nation, they will gain nothing but the united (Iranian) nation’s hostility,” Ahmadinejad said on a tour of west Iran.
Analysts say the defeat for US President George W. Bush’s Republican Party in last week’s congressional elections may also have buoyed Iran, even though it remains wary of the victorious Democrats, who are seen as close to Tehran’s foe Israel.
“There will be less concern, at least in the immediate future, about any decisions to be made against Iran by the US administration. There is a sense now that for a long time now there will be internal conflict,” said one Iranian analyst, who asked not to be named as the topic is sensitive in Iran.
Iran has snubbed an offer of economic and political incentives, backed by six big powers, to halt uranium enrichment, which can make fuel for power plants or material for warheads. Instead, Tehran says it will expand its work.
Iran now runs two chains of 164 centrifuges used for enrichment. But it says it wants to develop “industrial-scale” enrichment and plans to install 3,000 centrifuges by March. Ahmadinejad said this week Iran ultimately aimed for 60,000.
Iran has so far enriched only tiny amounts of uranium suitable for fuel. With 3,000 centrifuges in place, it could make enough material for at least one warhead, experts say.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they have 3,000 up by March. The technical challenge they have not overcome yet is to keep that many centrifuges interlinked and spinning consistently,” a senior diplomat in Vienna said.
Meanwhile, Iran’s planning organization chief has resigned after Ahmadinejad decided to tighten government control of its budget, Iranian media reported yesterday.
Farhad Rahbar, who also loses his title as a vice president, was replaced by Amir Mansour Borghei, a top official at the Energy Ministry, the student news agency ISNA reported. The move comes after Ahmadinejad’s controversial decision in October to shake up the agency by increasing the authority of the organization’s provincial agencies over its budget allocations.
The step was aimed at tightening government control over regional planning. Provincial planning agencies must now answer to local governors — who answer to the Interior Ministry — rather than the planning organization.
Ahmadinejad’s decision has already sparked the resignation of three directors and some 20 mid-ranking officials at the organization over fears its independence would be compromised under the new structure, media have reported.
Rahbar, who had served in the position in the previous reformist government, was said to be at odds with the president’s decision and even asked Ahmadinejad to reconsider the move.
