Iran’s government will build 10 new sites to enrich uranium, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday, a dramatic expansion of the country’s nuclear program and one that is bound to fuel fears that it is attempting to produce a nuclear weapon.
Thomas Erdbrink, “Iran vows to expand its nuclear program”, The Washington Post, Retrieved December 2, 2009 from [Source]
The Iranian government approved a plan Sunday to build 10 industrial-scale uranium enrichment facilities, a dramatic expansion of the program in defiance of U.N. demands it halt enrichment.
The decision comes only days after the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency censured Iran over its program and demanded it halt the construction of a newly-revealed enrichment facility.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA says the government ordered the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to begin construction of five uranium enrichment sites that have already been studied and propose five other sites for future construction.
The decision came the same day that Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani warned world powers not to force Tehran into scaling down its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“If you keep up this ludicrous carrot and stick policy, Iran will make ‘new arrangements’ in its interaction with the Agency.”
-Ali Larijani
The developments come as some Western powers, spearheaded by the U.S., have been pressuring Iran to accept a draft nuclear deal in which Iran’s Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) would be shipped out of the country for further enrichment and returned to Iran to be used in Tehran’s research reactor.
This can cause a major concern in the international sector and threaten the Middle East. Policy must continue to remain firm and strict with Iran as Israel has said they will not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon.
CS
