Iran Steps Up Defiance of UN With More Centrifuges

April 8 (Bloomberg) -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran is installing 6,000 new advanced uranium-enrichment centrifuges at its Natanz nuclear facility, a move that steps up the Persian Gulf country's dismissal of United Nations sanctions.
Natanz already has 3,000 of an older version of the fast- spinning machines that produce uranium 235, a material that can be used to fuel a nuclear power plant or build a bomb. The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency said in February that Iran was testing a faster, more reliable centrifuge. Iran plans to install 50,000 centrifuges at Natanz, Ahmadinejad said in 2006.
``In addition to installation of 6,000 new centrifuges, there are also reports about other new achievements,'' Ahmadinejad said on the National Day of Nuclear Technology, marking Iran's mastery of uranium enrichment in 2006. Details of the nuclear advancements will be announced later today, he said, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.
Whether Iran enriches uranium is at the heart of the dispute with the U.S. and some European countries. The UN Security Council voted on March 3 to tighten trade, travel and financial sanctions against Iran for the country's refusal to suspend nuclear work that might lead to an atomic bomb. It was the third resolution imposing UN sanctions on Iran, all of which the government in Tehran has rejected.
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China and Russia show sympathy

Russia and China Tuesday scuttled a Western attempt to introduce a resolution on Iran's nuclear defiance at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, diplomats said.

It came a day after the U.N. Security Council imposed another round of sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. Iran defiantly vowed to continue its nuclear program, which it insists is aimed only at generating power.

Asked why Russia and China were opposed, one of the diplomats said Moscow decided to withdraw its support "on principle" and Beijing, which often takes a cue from Russia on the Iran nuclear dispute, followed suit.

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GRADE ME

China and Russia as major powers claim that the UN was too rough on Iran but they still believe that Iran is up to no good.

Iran being Contained

Nobody on any side of the Iran nuclear dispute believes that yesterday's U.N. sanctions vote is going to break the deadlock. Faced with continuing Iranian defiance of the demand that it suspend uranium enrichment until concerns over the intent of its nuclear program can be resolved, the Security Council passed a package that incrementally tightens existing sanctions. It banned travel by certain officials of Iran's nuclear program, freezing the assets of certain companies and barring Iran from importing certain dual-use technologies. But Iran has made quite clear that it has no intention of complying with the U.N.'s demand, which it deems "illegal," and it is more than capable of absorbing the very limited pain inflicted by the new measures.

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GRADE ME

Iran has been contained by the UN in many ways. With restricting Iran, hopefully the nuclear program will hault. Iran still wants to continue the program and insists that the nuclear program is peaceful.

Iran dismisses 'worthless' UN resolution

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran on Tuesday dismissed the latest UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear programme as "worthless", vowing to press on with the contested drive which the West fears could be used to make weapons.

The Security Council on Monday imposed its third set of sanctions against Iran in the space of 15 months to punish Tehran's repeated refusal to suspend the process of uranium enrichment.
The resolution "is worthless and unacceptable and it is condemned", foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in a statement quoted by Iranian news agencies.

"The continuation of this trend (of issuing resolutions) will have no effect on the Iranian people and the government's determination in seeking its legitimate and lawful right for peaceful nuclear activities," he added.

Iran had been hoping its ongoing cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog to answer questions about past areas of ambiguity in its atomic programme would mean the nuclear case would be taken away from the Security Council.

Officials have also repeatedly hailed the UN watchdog's latest report as a success for Tehran that "closed" its nuclear case, even though the body was unable to confirm the atomic drive was peaceful.

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This is significant because it is about the nuclear program.