EuroNews – Iran’s announcement that it can now produce nuclear fuel on an industrial scale has drawn condemnation from the international community. The UN urged Tehran to abide by Security Council resolutions, while the EU renewed calls for uranium enrichment to be suspended completely.
Iran’s defiant leadership has warned it will be forced to review co-operation with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in the event of further pressure over its atomic programme. The announcement marks a shift from experimental atomic fuel work involving a few hundred centrifuges to a cascade process involving thousands. It is likely to further stoke western fears that Tehran is planning to develop weapons and not domestic power as it has always asserted.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack denounced the declaration as a further sign that Iran was defying the international community: "Well, it is another missed opportunity for the Iranians. They have had numerous opportunities over the past months to take up the offer that has been extended to them of negotiations so that they can realise their state goal of a peaceful energy program. But clearly they have decided against that course at this point and the international community is going to take a look at where Iran stands vis-ÃÂ -vis its compliance with those international demands." he told reporters at a briefing.
