Iran Uranium Enrichment Plants Under IAEA Watch: Soltanieh

Tehran, Jan 10, IRNA - All nuclear activities in the country are under IAEA watch, including those at the new uranium enrichment bunker at Fordo, Iranian envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh said on Monday. 'All nuclear activities, notably uranium enrichment at Natanz and Fordo, are under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency,' he underlined in reaction to new western propaganda against Tehran peaceful nuclear activities. The issue of uranium enrichment is at the heart of the confrontation of the West with Tehran’s scientific progresses. Western propaganda machine quoting unconfirmed sources has declared that Fordo has already been operational. Fordo, a reinforced facility sunk deep under a mountain 150 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Tehran. Natanz, which is also a hardened target though more vulnerable than Fordo, is already operating with some 8,000 centrifuges working to enrich uranium. Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry. Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment. Tehran has dismissed West's demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing those sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians’ national resolve to continue the path./end