IRAN'S IAEA DELEGATE SAYS IRAN WILL NEVER SUSPEND NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES

Описание: (6 Jun 2012) An Iranian official has told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran will "never ever" halt its programme of nuclear enrichment.
The country's chief delegate to the IAEA, Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, was speaking on Wednesday at the IAEA in Vienna, Austria, ahead of a meeting with atomic energy officials on Friday.
"We are determined to continue our nuclear activities without any interruption, including enrichment. I said in this room for the board of governors, and I put it on record as a part of history, be realistic. Iran will never ever suspend its enrichment activities."
Iran dismisses IAEA and international suspicions that it may have worked covertly on nuclear weapons, and insists it has no interest in possessing such arms, saying its disputed uranium enrichment programme is geared only towards generating nuclear fuel.
But critics note that it has blocked the restart of an IAEA investigation into its alleged secret weapons work for nearly five years, as well as refused foreign offers of reactor fuel.
It has instead expanded enrichment, and because the process can make both such fuel and the fissile material used to arm nuclear weapons, international concerns have grown about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
But Soltanieh maintains that there is nothing sinister in Iran's nuclear ambitions.
"I'm proud to say that my country, as a responsible country, has spared no effort to work with the IAEA, and all these activities are under the full scope safeguard of the IAEA."
Israel and the United States have not ruled out military strikes against the Islamic Republic if diplomacy fails to curb the nuclear programme they see as a cover for making weapons.
Later this month in Moscow, six world powers will attempt to convince Tehran to stop enriching uranium to higher levels that could be quickly turned into weapons-grade uranium at its Fordo facility, which is dug into a mountain and fortified against aerial attack.
Before that, IAEA officials plan to meet with envoy Soltanieh in Vienna on Friday in an attempt to prod Iran into agreeing to reopen the agency's investigation into the alleged secret weapons work.
It remains stalled three weeks after agency chief Yukiya Amano came back from Tehran saying that Iranian permission to relaunch it was near.
The IAEA recently showed board members satellite photos of part of the Parchin military base, southeast of Tehran.
Diplomats at that closed meeting said the images showed evidence of a cleanup, including water pouring from a building, earth being moved and the demolition of several buildings.
Yukiya Amano, the IAEA chief, confirmed on Monday that the photos showed such activities.


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