No retreat by Iran on nuclear programme

IRAN’S president declared yesterday his country would not retreat on its uranium enrichment activities.

The visiting head of the UN atomic watchdog agency said he had not seen any diversion of nuclear material for arms purposes, although “the picture is still hazy”.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad signalled there would be no concessions in talks with Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who arrived to head off a confrontation with the UN Security Council.

“We have not seen diversion of nuclear material for weapons purposes, but the picture is still hazy and not very clear,” ElBaradei told reporters after talks with Iranian nuclear officials.

ElBaradei said he had discussed with the Iranians the UN request for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment for a period of time until questions over its nuclear programme had been resolved. Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, told the news conference such moves were not acceptable. “Such proposals are not very important ones,” he said.

Hours earlier, Ahmadinejad had said enrichment was a red line for Iran in the talks with the UN. “We won’t hold talks with anyone about the right of the Iranian nation (to enrich uranium) and no one has the right to retreat, even one iota,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

Iran says its uranium enrichment is for power-generating purposes, while the West says it is intended for nuclear weapons. Experts familiar with Iran’s programme say it is still far from producing any weapons-grade uranium.

“Our answer to those who are angry about Iran achieving the full nuclear fuel cycle is just one phrase. We say: ‘Be angry at us and die of this anger’,” said Ahmadinejad.

The UN Security Council has given Iran until April 28 to stop all enrichment activity. Iran has rejected the demand and announced Tuesday, for the first time, it had enriched uranium with 164 centrifuges - a step toward large-scale production.

Iran’s deputy nuclear chief, Mohammad Saeedi, said on Wednesday that Iran intends to move toward large-scale uranium enrichment, signaling the country’s resolve to expand a programme the UN has demanded it halt.