Iran rejects demand to give up N-reactor
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran rejected a European demand to stop building a heavy-water nuclear reactor that provides a simpler way of extracting weapons-grade fuel and warned the United States on Sunday “not to play with fire” by repeatedly threatening Tehran.
Iran previously indicated it will keep its heavy-water reactor, but Sunday’s announcement that it will not replace it with a light-water reactor was the clearest statement yet of its nuclear plans and represented a hardening of its position.
Both plants in question can be used to enrich uranium, a critical part in nuclear programs, but the extraction of weapons-grade material from a light-water reactor is more difficult. Uranium enriched to low grades is for fuel in nuclear reactors; further enrichment makes it suitable for atomic bombs.
The statement underscored the unresolved differences between Iranian and European negotiators, who are continuing their talks over Iran’s nuclear program even as the United States escalates its criticism of Iran.
President Bush accused Iran in his State of the Union speech of being “the world’s primary state sponsor of terror” and pursuing nuclear weapons. Although Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said a military strike against Iran was “simply not on the agenda at this point,” Bush said his administration would not rule out any option.
On Sunday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi reiterated previous statements by top officials that Iran would not tolerate any acts of aggression, particularly from the United States.
“Rice and other U.S. officials are aware of Iran’s capabilities,” Asefi told reporters at a news briefing. “During the talks with the Europeans, we told them in clear terms to tell their American allies not to play with fire, and the Europeans clearly got our message.”
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami last week warned that Iran would turn into a “scorching hell” for any possible attackers.
Iran, according to experts, is believed to be at least four years away from finishing construction of the heavy-water reactor near Arak, in central Iran. Those reactors use natural uranium rather than the enriched form, which is costlier and more complicated to produce.
Asefi rejected a proposal by European negotiators to stop building the 40-megawatt Arak reactor in return for a light-water reactor — from which the extraction of weapons-grade material is difficult.