- TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Toughening
its stance in advance of a meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency,
Iran on Saturday said it would reject international restrictions on its
nuclear program and challenged the world to accept Tehran as a member of
the ``nuclear club.''
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- Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi rejected further outside
influence on Tehran's nuclear ambitions two days before the International
Atomic Energy Agency board of governors meets to discuss Iran's highly
controversial program.
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- "We won't accept any new obligations,'' Kharrazi
said. "Iran has a high technical capability and has to be recognized
by the international community as a member of the nuclear club. This is
an irreversible path.''
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- Iran has repeatedly insisted its nuclear program is geared
toward generating electricity, not making weapons, but the United States
and its allies say Tehran has a secret nuclear weapons program. The IAEA
has wrestled with the dilemma for more than a year.
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- Iran has already suspended uranium enrichment and stopped
building centrifuges. It has also allowed IAEA inspections of its nuclear
facilities without prior notice, part of the additional protocol to the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that still must be approved by parliament.
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- Kharrazi insisted that Iran would not give up its development
of the nuclear fuel cycle, the steps for processing and enriching uranium
necessary for both nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. Iran says it has
achieved the full cycle, but is not now enriching uranium.
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- "That somebody demands that we give up the nuclear
fuel cycle ... is an additional demand,'' Kharrazi said, apparently referring
to demands by U.S. and European countries that Iran halt operations of
a plant it inaugurated in March in Isfahan, central Iran, that processes
uranium into gas. The demand also calls for aborting plans to build a heavy
water reactor in Arak, another city in central Iran.
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- "We can't accept such an additional demand, which
is contrary to our legal and legitimate rights,'' he said. ``No one in
Iran can make a decision to deny the nation of something that is a source
of pride.''
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- Iran has confirmed possessing technology to extract uranium
ore, processing it into a powder called yellow cake and then converting
it into gas. The gas is then injected into centrifuges for low-grade enrichment
that turns it into fuel for nuclear reactors.
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- Uranium enriched to low levels has energy uses, while
highly enriched uranium can be used in bombs.
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- Iran suspended uranium enrichment last year under mounting
international pressure. In April, it said it had stopped building centrifuges.
IAEA inspectors had found traces of highly enriched uranium at two sites,
which Iranian officials have maintained was from contaminated imported
materials.
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- Kharrazi condemned a draft resolution critical of Iran
drawn up by Germany, France and Britain and being debated before the IAEA
board meeting Monday which says Iran's cooperation has not been complete.
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- "The draft resolution is unacceptable unless changes
are made so that it can be acceptable to all parties,'' he said.
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- The minister said insistence by Europeans on ``very tiny
issues is contrary to the spirit of cooperation.'' He said that by doing
so, the European countries are bowing to U.S. pressure and showing a ``lack
of independence.''
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- Kharrazi warned that failure in settling the debate over
Iran's nuclear dossier will be a "failure for all,''including Iran,
Europe and the IAEA.
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- The minister confirmed Iran's efforts to buy 4,000 magnets
needed for uranium enrichment equipment, saying the issue was blown out
of proportion. He did not say where the magnets were bought.
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- Diplomats told The Associated Press in Vienna that Iran
had acknowledged inquiring about 4,000 magnets needed for uranium enrichment
equipment with a European black-market supplier and had dangled the possibility
of buying a ``higher number.''
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- "If everybody is looking to settle this issue (Iran's
nuclear dossier), they have to look at it in a broad outlook,'' Kharrazi
said.
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- IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said last month his agency
had not found proof to date of a concrete link between Iran's nuclear activities
and its military program, but ``it was premature to make a judgment.''
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- http://www.middleeast.org/launch/redirect.cgi?c=2&num=72
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