Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Monday at the Natanz nuclear facility that his country is now producing nuclear fuel on an industrial scale.
Speaking at a ceremony to mark Iran’s “National Nuclear Day,” Ahmadinejad announced, “With great honor, I declare that as of today our precious country has joined the nuclear club of nations and can produce nuclear fuel on an industrial scale.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has installed 3,000 centrifuges and has begun feeding them with uranium hexafluoride gas,” Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani announced after Ahmadinejad’s speech.
The announcement was seen as a brazen slap at the United Nations Security Council, which for the past year has become increasingly concerned as the Islamic Republic ignored all resolutions to force it to end the uranium enrichment program.
The most recent move to pressure Iran was a unanimous vote by the Security Council on March 24th to impose new sanctions against Iran. Foreign accounts belonging to 13 companies and 15 individuals involved in nuclear and other military projects are frozen under the resolution, which includes visa restrictions and a ban on purchasing arms from Iran.
Additional sanctions have also been threatened in the event that Iran does not return to the negotiating table over its nuclear development activities within 60 days.
Larijani was firm on Iran’s intent to continue the program regardless of international reactions: "We are ready for talks with the West to reach an agreement that guarantees the opposite side in the talks a civilian focus to the Iranian nuclear program… but during the negotiations, we are not going to give up our rights.”
International Leaders Express “Concern”
The Iranian announcement was met with grim reactions by world leaders.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Monday that Iran’s announcement constitutes further defiance of the international mandate against its nuclear development activities.
McCormack said bluntly that the United Nations Security Council as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency “don’t believe Iran’s assurances that their [nuclear development] program is peaceful in nature.” He added that Ahmadinejad and other officials in the country are behaving in a manner that justifies the sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic.
Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, added that the Bush administration was “very concerned” by the Iranian announcement, calling the stepped-up uranium enrichment activities “unacceptable.”
The European Union was quick to echo the United States. Germany, which holds the presidency of the EU at present, issued a statement saying that Iran is “definitively going in the wrong direction.”
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon advised Iran to “engage in dialogue,” after hearing the announcement. Ban told reporters in New York, “It is very important for any member country to fully comply with Security Council resolutions. I urge the Iranian government to do so.”
The British Foreign Office was also “concerned” and warned Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities. “We have always made it clear that we are happy for Iran to have a civil nuclear power program, but they have to satisfy the international community that that is what it is seeking to develop,” read the statement.
Announcement is No Surprise
The news of Iran’s nuclear milestone achievement came as no surprise to those who have monitored its nuclear development activities and Ahmadinejad’s bluster over the past year.
Iran resumed uranium enrichment in January 2006 after voluntarily suspending the Natanz program nine months earlier, when inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency visited the complex on a regular basis.
In April 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush cited a report by the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warning that Iran was refusing the heed the U.N. Security Council’s demands to stop uranium enrichment.
Bush said, “that the world is united and concerned about [Iran’s] desire to have not only a nuclear weapon, but the capacity to make a nuclear weapon or the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon - all of which we’re working hard to convince them not to try to achieve.”
Ahmadinejad flaunted the Islamic Republic’s progress in its nuclear development programs, adamantly refusing to suspend its uranium enrichment program. Various incentives and threats offered by the international community were met with contempt, including an ultimatum by the U.N. Security Council to end the program by August 31 or face sanctions by the world body.
The deadline came, the deadline went, and Iran continued to enrich uranium and upgrade its facilities while the five member nations of the Security Council debated whether, when and how to impose the sanctions it had threatened against Iran.
After the Islamic Republic ignored a second deadline, limited sanctions on the transfer of nuclear technology and personnel to Iran were imposed in December 2006.
That same month, Larijani told the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency that Iran was intent on materializing all its nuclear research and development projects, including the installation of 3,000 centrifuges by the end of the Islamic year, which fell on March 19th.
While Larijani was sketching out Iran’s plans for future nuclear development, Ahmadinejad was warning Western nations that the Islamic Republic was only one step away from achieving industrial-level nuclear fuel production. "Our path to reach the nuclear summit is in the final phase,” he said. “Iran possesses the nuclear fuel cycle completely and by G-d's will it will undertake necessary measures to produce nuclear fuel for all of its nuclear power stations.”
“Iran has demonstrated a capability possessed by only about 10 countries,” wrote David Albright and Corey Hinderstein in a 2003 paper for the Institute for Science and International Security. The two writers noted that the IAEA had classified the Natanz centrifuges “as sophisticated and the culmination of a large, expensive effort.”
Gas centrifuges, they added, “could be used for the production of low enriched uranium for civil purposes or highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons, depending on the decision of the Iranian government.”
Speaking at a ceremony to mark Iran’s “National Nuclear Day,” Ahmadinejad announced, “With great honor, I declare that as of today our precious country has joined the nuclear club of nations and can produce nuclear fuel on an industrial scale.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has installed 3,000 centrifuges and has begun feeding them with uranium hexafluoride gas,” Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani announced after Ahmadinejad’s speech.
The announcement was seen as a brazen slap at the United Nations Security Council, which for the past year has become increasingly concerned as the Islamic Republic ignored all resolutions to force it to end the uranium enrichment program.
The most recent move to pressure Iran was a unanimous vote by the Security Council on March 24th to impose new sanctions against Iran. Foreign accounts belonging to 13 companies and 15 individuals involved in nuclear and other military projects are frozen under the resolution, which includes visa restrictions and a ban on purchasing arms from Iran.
Additional sanctions have also been threatened in the event that Iran does not return to the negotiating table over its nuclear development activities within 60 days.
Larijani was firm on Iran’s intent to continue the program regardless of international reactions: "We are ready for talks with the West to reach an agreement that guarantees the opposite side in the talks a civilian focus to the Iranian nuclear program… but during the negotiations, we are not going to give up our rights.”
International Leaders Express “Concern”
The Iranian announcement was met with grim reactions by world leaders.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Monday that Iran’s announcement constitutes further defiance of the international mandate against its nuclear development activities.
McCormack said bluntly that the United Nations Security Council as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency “don’t believe Iran’s assurances that their [nuclear development] program is peaceful in nature.” He added that Ahmadinejad and other officials in the country are behaving in a manner that justifies the sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic.
Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, added that the Bush administration was “very concerned” by the Iranian announcement, calling the stepped-up uranium enrichment activities “unacceptable.”
The European Union was quick to echo the United States. Germany, which holds the presidency of the EU at present, issued a statement saying that Iran is “definitively going in the wrong direction.”
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon advised Iran to “engage in dialogue,” after hearing the announcement. Ban told reporters in New York, “It is very important for any member country to fully comply with Security Council resolutions. I urge the Iranian government to do so.”
The British Foreign Office was also “concerned” and warned Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities. “We have always made it clear that we are happy for Iran to have a civil nuclear power program, but they have to satisfy the international community that that is what it is seeking to develop,” read the statement.
Announcement is No Surprise
The news of Iran’s nuclear milestone achievement came as no surprise to those who have monitored its nuclear development activities and Ahmadinejad’s bluster over the past year.
Iran resumed uranium enrichment in January 2006 after voluntarily suspending the Natanz program nine months earlier, when inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency visited the complex on a regular basis.
In April 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush cited a report by the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warning that Iran was refusing the heed the U.N. Security Council’s demands to stop uranium enrichment.
Bush said, “that the world is united and concerned about [Iran’s] desire to have not only a nuclear weapon, but the capacity to make a nuclear weapon or the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon - all of which we’re working hard to convince them not to try to achieve.”
Ahmadinejad flaunted the Islamic Republic’s progress in its nuclear development programs, adamantly refusing to suspend its uranium enrichment program. Various incentives and threats offered by the international community were met with contempt, including an ultimatum by the U.N. Security Council to end the program by August 31 or face sanctions by the world body.
The deadline came, the deadline went, and Iran continued to enrich uranium and upgrade its facilities while the five member nations of the Security Council debated whether, when and how to impose the sanctions it had threatened against Iran.
After the Islamic Republic ignored a second deadline, limited sanctions on the transfer of nuclear technology and personnel to Iran were imposed in December 2006.
That same month, Larijani told the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency that Iran was intent on materializing all its nuclear research and development projects, including the installation of 3,000 centrifuges by the end of the Islamic year, which fell on March 19th.
While Larijani was sketching out Iran’s plans for future nuclear development, Ahmadinejad was warning Western nations that the Islamic Republic was only one step away from achieving industrial-level nuclear fuel production. "Our path to reach the nuclear summit is in the final phase,” he said. “Iran possesses the nuclear fuel cycle completely and by G-d's will it will undertake necessary measures to produce nuclear fuel for all of its nuclear power stations.”
“Iran has demonstrated a capability possessed by only about 10 countries,” wrote David Albright and Corey Hinderstein in a 2003 paper for the Institute for Science and International Security. The two writers noted that the IAEA had classified the Natanz centrifuges “as sophisticated and the culmination of a large, expensive effort.”
Gas centrifuges, they added, “could be used for the production of low enriched uranium for civil purposes or highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons, depending on the decision of the Iranian government.”