Iran President inaugurates new atomic project

Arak (Iran), Aug 26: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today inaugurated on Saturday a new phase in the Arak heavy-water reactor project, part of Iran's atomic programme which the West fears is aimed at producing bombs.

A Reuters witness said the president inaugurated the project and toured the site at Khondab, which is near Arak 120 miles 190 km southwest of the capital Tehran. The plant's plutonium by-product could be used to make atomic warheads.

The move came days before a UN deadline for Iran to halt uranium enrichment, the part of the programme which is the biggest worry to the West. But the latest development is likely to raise further fears in Western capitals.

''Inaugurating the heavy water production plant in Arak is a big step towards using Iran's right, which means reaching peaceful nuclear technology,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted by state television as saying.

An Iranian nuclear official said this week that heavy water production itself was not a proliferation risk but a Western diplomat said such a move would not be a constructive step.

Western nations accuse Iran of seeking to master technology to produce nuclear weapons. Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, insists its aim is only for electricity.

A small group of correspondents from foreign news organisations were taken with Iranian journalists to Khondab, the site near Arak where the heavy-water project is being built, to attend the presidential speech.

The complex was protected by dozens of anti-aircraft guns and surrounded by a four-metre high barbed wire fence. Photographers and TV journalists were asked not to take any images except in areas where they were specifically permitted.

The Iranian nuclear official had said Iran would start up heavy-water production but not the reactor. He said this unit had no military use so supervision by the UN watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was not obligatory.

''The product of this project provides for cooling and depleting systems of the reactor, that can be used in various industries,'' the official had told Reuters.

''Be afraid"

The West's main concern is Iran's programme for enriching uranium, a process that can be used to make fuel for nuclear power stations or material for bombs. The UN Security Council passed a resolution on July 31 giving Iran 30 days to halt enrichment or face possible sanctions. The resolution also cited a call by the IAEA for Iran to reconsider construction of its heavy water reactor project.

Iran's deputy parliament speaker, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, warned the West in comments published by Iran's Sharq newspaper today that putting pressure on the country could prompt public calls for Iran to pursue a weapons programme.

''Be afraid of the day that the Iranian nation comes into the streets and stages demonstrations to ask the government to produce nuclear weapons to combat the threats,'' he said.

Iranian officials consistently say Iran has no plans to build atomic weapons. Iran's highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has issued a religious decree, saying making, stockpiling or using nuclear weapons was against Islamic beliefs, the official IRNA news agency reported in August 2005.

Six world powers have offered Iran incentives to halt enrichment. But Iran has so far only hinted it might be ready to consider halting the work as a result of talks, not as a precondition.

The reply seemed tailored to divide the four Western powers and Russia and China who agreed to the deadline on August 31.

The United States has said the six powers will move quickly to adopt sanctions if Iran disregards the deadline. Britain, Germany and France have been less conclusive in public.

Russia and China, both trade partners of Iran, have been unwilling and could veto sanctions in the Security Council.

Reuters

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