Iran to triple 20% uranium enrichment output
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Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Fereidoon Abbasi said Wednesday that Iran is going to install new generation of centrifuges in its uranium enrichment sites and will increase its 20-percent uranium enrichment output by three times, the state IRIB TV website reported.
Talking to the reporters, Abbasi said that Iran will install the first chain of 164 new-generation centrifuges in both Natanz and Fordo uranium enrichment sites "soon."
He also said that in the current Iranian year ending on March 20, the enrichment of uranium to the level of 20 percent will be transferred from Natanz site to Fordo site in the central province of Qom under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), according to IRIB TV website.
Iran will triple the 20-percent uranium enrichment output after the enrichment process is moved to Fordo, the Iranian nuclear chief was quoted as saying.
Abbasi said Iran will stop the enrichment process in Natanz after it makes sure that the Fordo site can produce the uranium enriched by three times as its current status.
Iran's nuclear chief said in April that the Fordo nuclear enrichment site was ready to be equipped with centrifuges.
In September 2009, Iran confirmed that it was building the new nuclear fuel enrichment plant of Fordo near the city of Qom.
The French Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Iran's further uranium enrichment was a provocation and violation of international laws.
"This announcement is a provocation. It reinforces the old concerns of the international community against the Iranian regime 's intransigence and its continued violations of international law, " Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.
On Wednesday, an Iranian Foreign Ministry official said that the recent report of IAEA chief Yukiya Amano on Iran's nuclear program was under the pressure of Western countries.
If it has not been for the political pressures by certain Western states, the report of Amano could have been different, IRIB quoted the Iran's Foreign Ministry official Mohammad-Mehdi Akhoondzadeh as saying.
Amano presented his latest reports on Iran's nuclear programs on Monday at the opening of the agency's week-long board meeting and urged Iran to fulfill its obligations under the nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in order to dispel suspicions about its nuclear intentions.
While introducing the quarterly report on the Iranian nuclear issue, Amano said the IAEA had "received further information related to possible past or current undisclosed nuclear-related activities that seem to point to the existence of possible military dimensions in Iran's nuclear program."
Amano called on Iran to "take steps toward the full implementation of all relevant obligations in order to establish international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program."
Also, referring to the pressures exerted by the U.S. on IAEA, Iran's permanent representative to the IAEA Ali-Asghar Soltanieh said Wednesday that "we do not allow the IAEA to implement the U.S. demands," said IRIB.
On Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the report of IAEA chief on Iran's nuclear program was under the pressure of the United States.
Ahmadinejad lashed out at the UN nuclear watchdog for being " swayed by political pressures," said the local English language satellite Press TV.
"Yukiya Amano is moving in the direction of hurting the agency' s reputation... The agency is taking orders from the United States, " Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of Iranian Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said Tuesday the claims by the agency's director general about the military dimension of Iran 's nuclear activities have been made under political pressures from the United States.
Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani also said Tuesday that the recent IAEA report about Iran's nuclear program was commissioned by the United States, according to Press TV.
Ahmadinejad announced Tuesday in a press conference in Tehran that the country will never stop uranium enrichment.
The West suspects Iran's uranium enrichment may be meant for producing nuclear weapons, which has been denied by Iranian officials.
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