Tuesday, September 21, 2004
The United States wants the issue referred to the U.N. Security Council.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- President Mohammad Khatami said today that Iran will continue a nuclear program some suspect is aimed at developing weapons, even if that means an end to U.N. oversight.
"We've made our choice: yes to peaceful nuclear technology, no to atomic weapons," Khatami said at a military parade in Tehran. "We will continue along our path even if it leads to an end to international supervision" of our nuclear activities.
As a member of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran allows supervision to ensure its nuclear programs are peaceful. Under international pressure last year, Iran agreed to a more aggressive inspection regime under an additional protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Possible sanctions
The IAEA demanded last weekend that Iran freeze uranium enrichment and related activities, such as the building of centrifuges, within two months. Failure to do so could lead to the IAEA's passing Iran's nuclear file to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions.
The United States believes Iran is covertly developing nuclear weapons and has been lobbying for the country to be referred to the Security Council. Iran insists that its nuclear program is strictly for the generation of electricity.
"They have to explicitly recognize our natural and legal right [to peaceful nuclear energy] to open the way for greater understanding and cooperation," Khatami said.
"We've made our choice. Now it is up to others to make their choice," he added.
Khatami said Iran would not seek nuclear weapons regardless of IAEA supervision.
"I declare to the world that whether we are under supervision or not, we won't go for nuclear weapons at all," he said.
Demands denounced
Iranian officials have denounced as "illegal" demands by IAEA that Iran cease enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for both nuclear power stations and nuclear weapons. While critics have said that Iran could import enriched uranium for power stations, Iran insists that it will develop its own fuel supplies.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Hasan Rowhani has threatened that if Iran is referred to the U.N. Security Council, the country will halt the unfettered IAEA inspections that it agreed to last year.
Iran's parliament has yet to ratify the additional protocol that authorizes them.
Iran says it already has the technology to manage the whole cycle of nuclear fuel -- from extracting uranium ore to enriching it. Critics argue that a country which controls the fuel cycle would be able to produce a nuclear bomb.
Iran is not prohibited from enriching uranium under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, but it has come under strong international pressure to stop enrichment and centrifuge construction as questions remain unanswered about the scope of its nuclear program.
Iranians are proud of their nuclear development. It is one of the few points on which there is consensus across the political spectrum.
War anniversary
Khatami spoke at a ceremony marking the anniversary of Iran's 1980-88 war with Iraq. The parade included an example of Iran's ballistic missile, the Shahab-3, which has the capacity to carry nuclear warheads.
Referring to Saddam Hussein, the ousted Iraqi dictator whom Iranians blame for the war, Khatami said: "The invader of yesterday is now in the quagmire of humiliation, captivity, disgrace and misery -- a quagmire prepared by the same people [America] who encouraged him [Saddam] to invade Iran."
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