Iran announced new strides in its nuclear programme on Wednesday in a defiant blow to US and EU pressure to rein in its atomic activities, and amid signs of an increasingly vicious covert war with Israel over the issue. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled on state television what was described as Iran’s first domestically produced, 20-per cent enriched nuclear fuel for Tehran’s research reactor.
He said 3,000 more centrifuges had been added to his country’s uranium enrichment effort, and officials said new-generation, high-capacity centrifuges had been installed in Iran’s Natanz facility. And he ordered Iran to “go build” four more nuclear research reactors.
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation chief Fereydoon Abbasi Davani also said that uranium exploration in Iran had been stepped up and a new yellowcake processing factory would be “pre-launched” over the next 13 months. The developments underlined Tehran’s determination to forge ahead with nuclear activities despite tough sanctions from the West — and despite speculation that Israel or the US could be months from launching military strikes against Iran. Iran portrayed the advances as evidence it was only interested in peaceful nuclear goals.