TEHRAN: Iran has vowed to expand its nuclear program dramatically despite international condemnation that followed its claim of being able to enrich uranium fuel.
As the head of the UN nuclear watchdog arrived in Tehran in a desperate bid to defuse the crisis, Iran's armed forces chief of staff was in no mood to back down.
"When a people master nuclear technology and nuclear fuel, nothing can be done against them," said General Hassan Firouzabadi.
"The West can do nothing and is obliged to extend to us the hand of friendship."
World powers are scrambling to find consensus on how to contain Iran's nuclear activities, which the US and others fears could result in an atomic bomb.
Iran is basking in national pride after regime scientists successfully enriched uranium to make nuclear fuel – a milestone in its atomic drive – and officials pledged to move rapidly to industrial-scale work.
The international community united in condemning the move although differences remain over what should happen next, with Washington demanding "strong steps" from the UN Security Council and Russia warning against the use of force.
Representatives of the five permanent members of the Council plus Germany are to meet in Moscow next Tuesday to discuss the crisis, China's UN envoy said.
Iran's announcement is also a blow to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director Mohamed ElBaradei, who arrived in Tehran overnight for talks with the regime's top nuclear negotiator.
"We hope to convince Iran to take confidence-building measures including suspension of uranium enrichment activities until outstanding issues are clarified," ElBaradei told journalists at the airport.
"I would like to see Iran has come to terms with the request of the international community."
ElBaradei hopes the nuclear crisis still could be resolved through political dialogue.
He must give a report at the end of April on Iran's nuclear activities to the UN Security Council and the 35 states of the IAEA's governing council.
The US accuses Iran of seeking to secretly build nuclear weapons, charges denied by OPEC's number two oil exporter which insists the drive is aimed purely at electricity generation.
The Security Council has set April 28 as a deadline for Tehran to halt the ultra-sensitive uranium enrichment, a process which can be extended to make the fissile core of a bomb. |