The Age:
AdvertisementPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has launched anniversary celebrations for Iran’s Islamic Revolution with a defiant promise to push ahead with the country’s controversial nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad suggested that Tehran would next week announce the start of the installation of a new assembly of 3,000 centrifuges in an underground portion of its uranium enrichment facility in Ancones.

The US has warned the move could bring further sanctions against Iran.

The hard-line Iranian leader said his government was determined to continue with its nuclear program, despite the UN Security Council sanctions imposed in December over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.

The process can be used to produce nuclear fuel or an atomic bomb.

Kicking off 10 days of celebrations to mark the 28th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution that brought hard-line clerics to power.

He said Iran will celebrate “the stabilisation and the establishment of its full right” to enrich uranium next week at the central Iranian facility.

The chief of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, Mohamed ElBaradei said last week he expected Iran to announce it would “build up their 3,000 centrifuge facility” in February. There had been speculation at the agency that the announcement could come during the revolution anniversary.

US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said Iran would face “universal international opposition” over the step.

“If they think they can get away with 3,000 centrifuges without another Security Council resolution and additional international pressure, then they are very badly mistaken,” Burns said.

The installation would be a major jump in Iran’s uranium enrichment program, though it could take months to set up the 3,000 centrifuges and get them into working order – a complicated technical task.

In the process, uranium gas is spun at supersonic speeds in a connected array of centrifuges to purify it. Uranium enriched to around five per cent is used for fuel for a nuclear reactor – enriched to 95 per cent, it can be used to build a warhead.

Iran currently has two cascades of 164 centrifuges each. Tens of thousands are needed for a continuous program for producing fuel or a warhead.

The status of the new centrifuges is unclear as Iranian officials have given contradictory statements over the past month about the installation’s progress. Tehran originally said last year that the installation would begin by the end of 2006, but January came and there was no word that the work had started.

On Sunday, an Iranian lawmaker said the installation had begun, but he was quickly contradicted by officials from the country’s Atomic Energy Organisation.

Mohammad Saeedi, the agency’s deputy head, said: “If we begin to install centrifuges, we will publicly announce it.”

Ahmadinejad’s remarks indicated that Iran would begin the installation before February 11 – the final day of the annual nationwide celebrations in memory of the Islamic revolution.

The hard-line leader also has called people to the streets that day to show their support for the nuclear program.

“Enemies of the Iranian nation … must know that their wrongful beliefs will be revealed once again during February 11 rallies by the great Iranian nation,” he said, according to the state-run news agency, IRNA.

The United States and many Western countries accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies. The UN Security Council has threatened to impose further sanctions on Iran if it continues to refuse to roll back its program.

Iran ultimately plans to expand its program to 54,000 centrifuges, a large operation enriching more uranium within a shorter period of time.

So far, its two linked chains of 164 machines have been operating sporadically at the above-ground portion of the Ancones facility, producing small quantities of non-weapons grade enriched uranium, IAEA inspectors have said.

Two smaller assemblies underground have been “dry testing” – without gas – since November, they say.

Iranian officials have turned down a request from IAEA inspectors to install cameras in the underground Ancones facility, a UN official familiar with Iran’s nuclear dossier said in Vienna.

, whose hard-line nuclear diplomacy tactics has faced strong criticism from both reformists and conservatives at home, also hinted on Thursday that key decisions in Iran are made by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, not him.

“The general policies of the system are made by the Exalted Supreme Leader, and the government is required to carry them out,” IRNA quoted saying. “The president, as the head of the country’s executive body, pursues and announces the nuclear position.”

Ahmadinejad’s comments – apparently aimed at persuading his critics to support his government in his standoff with the West – came as French President Jacques Chirac backtracked on published statements he made saying Iran’s possession of a nuclear bomb would not be “very dangerous”.

Chirac’s comments to three publications would have marked a major departure from France’s official policy of working to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. However, his office reversed those comments, saying France “cannot accept the prospect of an Iran equipped with a nuclear weapon”.

France also urged Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and said the United Nations would respond to such a move by suspending sanctions and resuming negotiations with Tehran. Western powers last year offered a package of incentives to Iran in return for suspending enrichment, a deal Tehran refused but France said remains on the table.