LEADALL: Amid warnings, Iran insists enrichment plants are allowed

By German Press Agency Sep 26, 2009, 15:05 GMT

Amid further international warnings over its nuclear enrichment plants, Iran Saturday again insisted it was doing nothing that went against international agreements.

The head of the country's atomic organization Ali-Akbar Salehi said Iran had agreed to let the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspect the new uranium enrichment plant near Tehran.

'Considering the suitable cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, there will be an inspection of the new plant in due time,' he told state television, but without giving a precise date.

He indicated the new plant, 100 kilometres south of Tehran, would not become operational for over a year. The country's first enrichment plant Natanz is located in central Iran.

Salehi also expressed bemusement over the harsh international reaction to the new plant, insisting that 'whatever we did was within the legal framework and in line with all IAEA regulations.'

These, he said, stipulated that any nuclear plant should be brought to the attention of the IAEA six months before going operational.

   'In the case of the new plant, we did it even more than a year (before the operational phase),' he said, indicating that the plant would not become operational before the end of 2010.

   'We are really surprised about the international reactions - there is no basis for them,' he added.

US President Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband all reiterated their concerns Saturday.

'This was a secret enterprise,' Interfax news agency quoted Medvedev as saying. 'The international nuclear authority IAEA should be allowed to inspect this facility without delay.'

   Medvedev also warned that Russia as a UN Security Council veto power could - contrary to its prior position - support sanctions against Iran.

In London, Miliband told the BBC the international focus was on a diplomatic solution to the row, although he did not specifically rule out military action as a last resort.

But, he said, 'no sane person looks at the military question of engagement with Iran with anything other than real concern. That's why we always say we are 100 per cent committed to the diplomatic track.'

Obama meanwhile Saturday repeated in his weekly radio and internet address the warning he already gave Iran Friday that it must soon 'come clean' about its nuclear activities to avoid heading down a path of 'confrontation' with global powers.

Obama said he expected answers from Iran when officials from the six countries leading the international effort to curtail Iran's nuclear programme meet with Iranian representatives next week in Geneva.

'Iran is on notice that, when we meet with them on (Thursday) October 1, they are going to have to come clean, and they are going to have to make a choice,' Obama had said at the conclusion of the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The United States, Britain and France on Friday accused Tehran of deliberately concealing from UN inspectors a nuclear plant in southern Iran for enriching uranium.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied the charges at a press conference in New York, saying the International Atomic Energy Agency had long ago been informed of the facility.

Obama did not rule out the possibility of using military force if diplomatic efforts fail to resolve the dispute but emphasized his approach of seeking a solution through negotiations.

'I've always said that we do not rule out any options when it comes to US security interests, but I will also re-emphasize that my preferred course of action is to resolve this in a diplomatic fashion,' he said. 'It's up to the Iranians to respond.'

The IAEA confirmed Friday that it had received a letter on Monday from Iran confirming the existence of the plant close to the city of Qom. The IAEA had previously been aware only of the first facility for enriching uranium near Natanz.