TEHRAN: Iran said on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) it has formally told the UN nuclear watchdog of its plan to produce higher enriched uranium, sparking US and French calls for “strong” sanctions against the defiant Islamic republic.

“Iran’s official letter about commencing the 20-percent enrichment activity in order to provide fuel for the Tehran reactor has been handed over to the IAEA,” Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Tehran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told state-owned television from its Vienna base.

Iran’s atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi announced late on Sunday (Monday in Manila) that Tehran would begin enriching uranium to 20 percent from Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila), and that the IAEA would be informed of its decision beforehand.

The announcement was met with a sharp riposte on Monday from world powers, which fear that Iran’s nuclear enrichment program masks a bid to make atomic weapons, despite Tehran insisting its purpose is entirely peaceful.

International commumity
Frances’s President Nicolas Sarkozy and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates agreed in talks in Paris that “strong” new sanctions must be passed against Iran over its nuclear drive, the French presidency said.

Sarkozy and Gates “agreed that the time has come for the adoption of strong sanctions, in the hope that dialogue will be resumed,” an official at the French presidency said.

Gates, whose aides said earlier the United States would ask France to submit a sanctions motion at the council, which it currently chairs, said: “We are very much agreed that action by the international community is the next step.”

In Vienna, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano expressed concern on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) over Iran’s decision to begin higher enrichment of uranium, after the agency received a letter from the Islamic republic informing it of the move.

In Washington, a US official said the plan was “a provocative move in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.”

“The Iranian government knows that this will not meet the humanitarian needs of the Iranian people, and risks creating more regional instability,” the official told Agence France-Presse, on condition of anonymity.

“If the Iranian government takes this step, it would further undermine confidence and raise serious concern about Iran’s nuclear intentions.”

Nuclear-armed power
Ehud Barak, defence minister of Israel which is widely believed to be the Middle East’s sole if undeclared nuclear-armed power, told a meeting of his Labor Party that new sanctions were needed.

He said Tehran’s enrichment decision was “further proof that Iran is deceiving the whole world and the correct response is to begin a determined campaign of decisive and permanent sanctions against Iran.”

Neither the United States nor Israel has ruled out taking military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano “noted with concern this decision, as it may affect, in particular, ongoing international efforts to ensure the availability of nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor,” his agency said.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, meanwhile, insisted that Iran does not have the ability to enrich uranium to 20 percent and accused Tehran of “blackmail.”

At the IRIS institute for strategic and international relations in Paris, Karim Pakzad saw hardline President Mahmoud Ahaminejad’s move as a “bluff, because the Iranian government is weakened domestically.”

On the domestic scene, Iran’s opposition criticized Ahmadinejad’s handling of the crisis.

“On the nuclear issue, which influential nation do we have on our side?” Mir Hossein Mousavi asked in a talk to university students, his website kaleme.org reported on Monday (Tuesday in Manila).
AFP