Iran did it right under US nose and no one can stop them.
Iran said its nuclear program is irreversible, issuing another
rejection of a U.N. Security Council deadline to cease enriching
uranium that expires in five days.
Earlier this month, Tehran announced for the first time that it had
enriched uranium using 164 centrifuges, a step toward large-scale
production of nuclear fuel that can be used either in atomic
weapons or in nuclear reactors for civilian electricity
generation.
"Nuclear research will continue. Suspension of (nuclear activities
including uranium enrichment) is not on our agenda. This issue is
irreversible," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told
reporters.
The United States and some allies charge Iran is using the program
as a cover for weapons production. Iran says it is designed only
for power generation.
The Security Council deadline of Friday is not binding, but the
United States and Britain said Iran must comply or the two
countries would seek a resolution to make the demand compulsory,
which would raise the possibility of sanctions.
"Iran won't give up its rights and has prepared plans for any
eventuality," Asefi said.
The spokesman said a Russian compromise plan for joint uranium
enrichment was still on the table.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic
Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Saturday spoke of a
"basic agreement" between Iran and Russia to set up a joint uranium
enrichment firm on Russian soil.
The announcement was a repeat of a similar declaration by Iran and
Russia in February but details have never been worked out.
"Necessary grounds need to be prepared for its implementation,"
Asefi said. It still remains unclear whether Iran would entirely
give up enrichment at home, a top demand of the West, or if the
joint venture would be complementary to the existing enrichment
inside Iran.
Asefi insisted Sunday that Iran has not used any advanced P-2
centrifuges in its enrichment of uranium.
Such a device would be a vast improvement over the current P-1
centrifuges, which Iran has said it used to enrich uranium.
Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed last week
that his country was conducting laboratory research on the advanced
P-2 centrifuge, which could be used to more speedily create fuel
for power plants or atomic weapons.
"We have not so far used P-2 centrifuges. What we have used has
been P-1," Asefi told reporters.
The spokesman, however, said Iran had the right to work on P-2
centrifuge.
"No one can deny us of such a work," he said!!!!
Iran has vowed it would never give up its right under the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear
fuel.
