President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday predicted Iran would soon ”push the button” on production of nuclear fuel for industrial uses, the Irna agency reported.
”Iran has the fuel cycle and very soon we will push the button on nuclear-fuel production for industrial uses,” Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the town of Ghotvand in the western Khuzestan province.
”The Iranian people have taken their decision and will in no way pay attention to empty cries of the materialists and the bullying of the decadent powers,” he added.
Iran has already announced it has enriched uranium to levels of about 5%, and producing nuclear fuel that could theoretically be used in a power station would be another important step in mastering the nuclear-fuel cycle.
Ahmadinejad’s latest comments come in defiance of a United Nations Security Council resolution at the end of last year, which imposed sanctions against Tehran for its failure to suspend uranium enrichment.
Western powers want Iran to suspend enrichment, a process that they fear could be used to make nuclear weapons. Iran insists its atomic programme is entirely peaceful and it has every right to the full nuclear fuel cycle.
Iranian officials have already predicted Iran would be able to make a major announcement on its nuclear programme during the 28th-anniversary celebrations of the Islamic revolution in February.
”The Iranian people will not retreat one iota from their rights and the revolutionary celebration will be a celebration that proves Iran’s nuclear rights,” Ahmadinejad said.
”The Iranian people are insisting on their position and want nothing more than their rights. The bullying powers should know that whatever fuss they make they have to surrender to the Iranian people’s will.”
Iran has also said it wants to install 3 000 uranium-enriching centrifuges at its enrichment plant in Natanz, central Iran, by March but it is unclear which stage these plans have reached. — AFP
