Iran defiant as it prepares for nuke talks
A defiant Iran starts potentially make-or-break nuclear talks tomorrow with six world powers after setting alarm bells ringing by admitting it is building a second uranium enrichment plant.
The much-awaited negotiations in Geneva come amid peaking tension after Iran shocked the world by disclosing to the UN nuclear watchdog on September 21 that it is building a second uranium enrichment plant near the holy city of Qom.
Following the announcement, Iran test-fired a series of long, medium and short-range missiles this week, some of which it claims can hit targets inside arch-foe Israel.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili meets representatives from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States to discuss the nuclear issue. Tehran risks tougher sanctions if the negotiations fail.
In response, Iran said Tuesday that it would soon offer a timetable for UN inspection of its controversial second uranium enrichment plant and was ready to discuss world concerns about the previously undisclosed facility.
Earlier this month Iran presented a new package of proposals to the six powers, which it wants to be the basis of the talks on October 1.
The package, it says, aims to address the issue of global nuclear disarmament and does not mention its own atomic programme, including the sensitive uranium enrichment drive.
Iran wants comprehensive talks on a wide range of issues and says it has a lot to offer in terms of security in a volatile region, where US-led forces are involved in wars in Iran's neighbours, Iraq and Afghanistan.
But Tehran has underscored that its nuclear "rights" -- an euphemism for uranium enrichment which the UN Security Council wants suspended -- are not negotiable.
"We will not accept any new conditions in the nuclear issue," said Alaeddin Borujerdi, head of parliament's national security and foreign policy commission on Monday.
He also warned against the "propaganda" by Western powers over Tehran's disclosure of the new enrichment facility.
"If this ... is effective, the talks will fail and these countries will be back to square one," the conservative lawmaker said.
Oil-rich Iran insists it has a right to uranium enrichment, which makes nuclear fuel as well as the fissile core of an atom bomb, as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Comments