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FARHAD POULADI
April 10, 2010 - 5:29AM
AFP Iran unveiled a faster centrifuge for enriching uranium on Friday, as
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned major powers mulling fresh UN
sanctions that it would not give in to threats.
Western governments seized on Iran's defiance as evidence of its
"nefarious" intent as they sought consensus at the Security Council on a
tough new package of measures to secure compliance with repeated
ultimatums for a freeze on uranium enrichment. Ahmadinejad's comments marking Iran's National Nuclear Day came a day
after China agreed to join five other major powers for more talks on a
fourth set of UN sanctions against Iran, rowing back on its previous
opposition. Atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran had successfully tested the new
centrifuges which are capable of enriching uranium six times faster than
its existing ones at a plant in Natanz, south of Tehran. "The scientists of our country have been able to design a third
generation of centrifuges, which successfully went through final
mechanical tests," Salehi said. "These machines would have (isotope) separation capacity...
approximately six times faster than the earlier ones, thus increasing
the output" of enriched uranium, he added. Salehi, who said in December that the new centrifuges would go into
production by next March, also announced that Iran had discovered new
uranium deposits in the central province of Yazd. Uranium enrichment is the sensitive process that lies at the heart of
Western concerns about Iran's nuclear programme. The process can produce
the fuel for nuclear reactors but in highly extended form can also make
the fissile core of an atomic bomb. Russia has joined Western governments in backing further UN sanctions
but Ahmadinejad vowed that such pressure would have no effect. "These kinds of actions will make Iranians more determined," the
hardliner said. "For example, four months ago we had no intention of making 20 percent
(enriched uranium) fuel. But when they talked of threats, we went ahead." Ahmadinejad gave instructions on February 7 for Iran to begin enriching
uranium to the 20 percent level required for a Tehran medical research
reactor after long-running talks on a deal for the major powers to
supply the fuel failed to bear fruit. Western governments slammed the move as a significant step towards the
93 percent level required for making an atomic bomb but Iran again
strongly denied any military ambition for its nuclear programme. "We are against nuclear weapons... we consider nuclear weapons to be
inhuman," Ahmadinejad said on Friday. Both Britain and the United States expressed strong scepticism in the
light of Iran's intensification of its efforts to master the nuclear
fuel cycle. "If Iran wants the international community to believe what it says, that
it has peaceful intentions with respect to its nuclear programme, then
Iran has no need for a third generation, or faster centrifuge," said
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley. "We have to conclude that Iran has nefarious intentions in its nuclear
programme," he added. A British Foreign Office spokesman said: "We have deep concerns about
Iran?s nuclear programme and its failure to reassure the international
community that the programme is purely for peaceful purposes." London and Washington have stepped up their lobbying at the United
Nations for tough new sanctions against Tehran and on Thursday won
Beijing's support for further talks on a fresh package. China, which is a major trade partner of Iran, had previously resisted
calls for new sanctions, arguing instead for further diplomacy. Ahmadinejad again criticised the West on Friday for supporting Israel,
which has Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal. "There are some phoney regimes who have stockpiles, but you are
supporting them. Okay, if you are for non-proliferation... disarm
yourselves and then your friends," he said.
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