Iran's supreme leader: Nuclear programme is irreversible

Iran’s supreme leader said today that his country’s nuclear fuel programme was “irreversible”, warning that any retreat by Iran over its nuclear programme will be “breaking the country’s independence”.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also ordered Iran’s diplomats abroad to defend the country’s nuclear programme, saying that backing down will force Tehran to gradually give up all its foreign policy goals.

Earlier in the day, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also vowed to resist pressure from the UN Security Council over the programme.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran considers retreat over the nuclear issue…as breaking the country’s independence which will impose huge costs on the Iranian nation,” state television quoted Khamenei as saying to diplomats brought home from Iran’s embassies across the world for consultations with Iranian leaders.

“Any retreat at this point will bring an unending chain of pressures and further retreats. Therefore, this path is irreversible and the foreign policy establishment has to bravely defend Iran’s right,” he said.

The comments came ahead of discussions later today on Iran’s nuclear programme by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, which has the power to slap sanctions on Iran if it doesn’t back down in its confrontation with the West over its nuclear ambitions.

Ahmadinejad said that “no power” can take nuclear fuel cycle technology away from Iran.

“Rest assured that the technology to produce nuclear fuel today is in the hands of the youth of this land and no power can take it back from us,” Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in northern Iran.

His defiant comments drew chants of “nuclear energy is our right” from the crowd.

Ahmadinejad’s hardline position puts Iran on a collision course with the world’s biggest powers, further heightening tension over Tehran’s suspected nuclear activities.

The US and its European allies want Iran to permanently abandon uranium enrichment and all related activities, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel for reactors or materials for a nuclear bomb. Iran denies any intention to build weapons, saying it only wants to produce energy.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the US, Russia, China, Britain and France – have been considering proposals to pressure Iran to resolve questions about its nuclear programme, including demands that it abandon uranium enrichment.

China today expressed optimism that negotiations could still resolve the dispute, calling on Tehran to co-operate.

“Now there is still room to solve the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomatic negotiations,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang.

“We hope Iran can cooperate closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency and do more to build up mutual confidence to help reach a solution.”

Ahmadinejad said Iran would not abandon its drive to produce nuclear fuel by what he called the harsh statements and pressures by the US and its allies.

“They should be assured that through propaganda, political pressures and games they play nowadays such as issuing statements, making angry gestures…can’t deny the Iranian nation from pursuing its path,” he told the crowd gathered in the town of Gorgan.

The US and its allies, he said, are angry because Iran has made progress in its nuclear programme.

“They are really angry that this great nation (Iran) is gaining access to the peaks of progress and development,” he said.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw warned today that Iran’s government is taking the country in the “wrong direction” and repressing its own people and pursuing confrontation abroad.

Britain, France, Germany and the US successfully pressed the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to report Iran to the Security Council last week after Tehran resumed nuclear research and small-scale uranium enrichment.

Iran has insisted it will never give up its right under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel. It restarted research-scale uranium enrichment last month, two years after voluntarily freezing the programme during talks with Germany, Britain and France.

It also has threatened to start large-scale uranium enrichment if the council imposes any sanctions on the country.

Iran only has an experimental nuclear research pogramme and scientists say the Muslim nation is months away from resolving technical problems to launch any large-scale uranium enrichment.

Last week, Iran offered what it called a “final proposal” to agree to suspend large-scale enrichment temporarily in return for IAEA recognition of its right to continue research-scale enrichment.

Russia, which is putting finishing touches on Iran’s first nuclear power plant in southern Iran, has offered that Iran’s uranium enrichment be moved to Russian territory to allay fears that enriched uranium will beused to build atomic bomb.

Tehran and Moscow reached a basic agreement on the proposal, but details were never worked out. Iran said it no longer was considering the Russian proposal on Sunday, but a nuclear official today said talks with Russia were underway, underlining how many mixed signals are being sent.