WarSclerotic

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi delivers a speech at the beginning of a general conference of the IAEA, in Vienna, Austria, 14 Sep 2009

Iran’s nuclear chief says his country will not discuss anything related to its right to enrich uranium.

Ali Akbar Salehi made his remarks two days before Iran is to discuss its atomic program with world powers in Geneva. He said Iran will never abandon its nuclear program.

Earlier, Salehi told state-run television Iran will soon tell the U.N. nuclear agency when it can inspect the nuclear plant Tehran acknowledged last week it is developing.

Meanwhile, Iranian lawmakers are warning the U.S. and other world powers against repeating past mistakes during Thursday’s talks. They said the talks are an “historic opportunity” to move past the deadlock on the nuclear issue.

The United States is threatening Iran with tougher sanctions if it does not fully reveal its nuclear activities and allow U.N. inspectors to visit its newly revealed plant.

In other news, Russia’s deputy foreign minister says Iran’s missile test launches should not be used as a reason to impose more sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program. But Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency the tests give greater argument to those who support sanctions.

China urged calm Tuesday after Tehran drew international condemnation by testing its longest-range missiles on Monday.

Russia and China are two of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, but have historically been more reluctant than the United States and European nations to punish Iran for enriching uranium.

The United States and its Western allies suspect Iran is building a nuclear weapon. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and intended to produce electricity.

Iran’s nuclear chief says Iran informed the U.N. nuclear agency that its new plant will produce enriched uranium at a level (five percent) consistent with its nuclear energy program.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-09-29-voa14.cfm

This entry was posted on September 29, 2009 at 3:11 PM and is filed under Iran / Israel War. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.