(CNN & AP) U.N: Iran expanding rather than freezing nuclear program

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/....ap/index.html


U.N.: Iran expanding rather than freezing nuclear program
POSTED: 12:22 p.m. EST, February 22, 2007


VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Iran has expanded its uranium enrichment
program instead of complying with a U.N. Security Council ultimatum to
freeze it, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Thursday in a finding
that clears the way for harsher sanctions against Tehran.

"Iran has not suspended its enrichment-related activities," said the
International Atomic Energy Agency, basing its information on material
available to it as of Saturday.

The conclusion -- while widely expected -- was important because it
could serve as the trigger for the council to start deliberating on
new sanctions meant to punish Tehran for its nuclear intransigence.

In a report written by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, the agency also
said the Islamic republic continues construction of a reactor that
will use heavy water and a heavy water production plant -- also are in
defiance of the Security Council. (Read the IAEA report)

Both enriched uranium and plutonium produced by heavy water reactors
can produce the fissile material used in nuclear warheads. Iran denies
such intentions, saying it needs the heavy water reactor to produce
radioactive isotopes for medical and other peaceful purposes and
enrichment to generate energy.

The six-page report obtained by The Associated Press also said that
agency experts remain "unable ... to make further progress in its
efforts to verify fully the past development of Iran's nuclear
program" because of lack of Iranian cooperation.

That, too, put it in violation of the Security Council, which on
December 23 told Tehran to "provide such access and cooperation as the
agency requests to be able to verify ... all outstanding issues"
within 60 days.

The report -- sent both to the Security Council and the agency's 35
board member nations -- set the stage for a fresh showdown between
Iran and Western powers.

In Tehran, the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization,
Mohammed Saeedi, said: "Iran considers the (IAEA demand for)
suspension as against its rights, the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty
and international regulations."

"That's why Tehran could not have answered positively to the request
by resolution 1737 of the UN Security Council for a suspension of
enrichment activity," Saeedi said, according to the official Islamic
Republic News Agency.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said that Iran's refusal to
curtail its nuclear program is a "missed opportunity" for its
government and people. He said he is confident that the Security
Council will approve additional sanctions against Iran but declined to
predict what they might be.

Before the report was issued, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said
the U.S. and its allies would use the Security Council and other
"available channels" to bring Tehran back to negotiations over its
nuclear program. (Watch Rice explain how U.S. is open to talks)

And U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply
concerned ... that the Iranian government did not meet the (Wednesday)
deadline set by the Security Council."

"I urge again that the Iranian government should fully comply with the
Security Council" as soon as possible, he told reporters in Vienna,
saying Iran's nuclear activities had "great implications for peace and
security, as well as nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
Iranian companies masked, dissidents allege

Iranian dissidents, meanwhile, presented a list of alleged front
companies they said were set up by the Islamic republic to evade U.N.
sanctions.

Part of the sanctions target companies suspected of involvement in
Iran's nuclear program -- a measure that an Iranian dissident group
said Tehran was circumventing by renaming the companies and otherwise
disguising them, or setting up new ones.

In a list provided to The Associated Press on Thursday ahead of
general publication, the National Council of Resistance in Iran said
firms under sanctions that were renamed were the Farayand Technique
Company and the Pars Thrash Company. It named new companies set up to
work on Iran's enrichment programs while avoiding sanctions as Tamin
Tajhizat Sanayeh Hasteieh, Shakhes Behbood Sanaat and Sookht Atomi
Reactorhaye Iran.

All are headed by Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's atomic energy
programs, and some involve others on the Security Council's list of
those involved in Iran's nuclear program, said the group, the
political wing of the People's Mujahedeen of Iran, which advocates the
overthrow of Iran's Islamic government.

There was no independent confirmation of the information provided by
the group, which the United States and the European Union list as a
terrorist organization. But it has revealed past secret Iranian
nuclear activities subsequently verified by the IAEA or governments.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.