Zeenews Bureau
Pittsburgh: US President Barack Obama and the leaders of Britain and France on Friday publicly demanded that Iran open up a secret nuclear fuel facility to international inspectors.
Led by Obama at the site of the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown joined the United States on Friday in chastising Tehran for operating the facility covertly.
Obama said the site "deepens a growing concern" that Iran has failed to live up to its international obligations. He said that Iran "is breaking rules that all nations must follow, endangering the world non-nuclear proliferation regime ... and the security of the world."
“We are committed to dialogue with Iran” but “Iranian government must demonstrate through deeds its peaceful intentions,” he said.
Iran has kept the facility, 100 miles southwest of Tehran, hidden from international weapons inspectors for years, but the US has long known of its existence, a White House official said.
Obama decided to go public with the revelation after Iran learned that Western intelligence agencies were aware of the project.
Officials said that the plant could be in operation by next year.
EU nuclear envoy backs US, Britain, France
The West`s chief nuclear
negotiator, Javier Solana, backed on Friday demands by the United
States, Britain and France for UN access to a new atomic site
revealed by Iran, his spokeswoman said.
"We support the position" of the three, the spokeswoman
said, after US President Barack Obama, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called
on Iran to open the plant to UN inspections.
Obama said the secret facility had been built inside a
mountain near the holy city of Qom, 160 kilometres south of
Tehran. Iran already has one enrichment plant at Natanz.
Uranium enrichment is required to fuel a nuclear reactor,
but at highly refined levels can produce the core of an atomic
bomb, which the West fears the Islamic republic is trying to
covertly develop.
Since 2006, Solana has been negotiating on behalf of
major world powers to try to pursuade Iran to enter talks on
suspending its enrichment activities in exchange for political
and economic incentives.
Obama said that Tehran must be ready, at a meeting
between Iran and the powers on October 1 in Geneva, to
cooperate fully with the UN nuclear watchdog or face further
isolation.
The three also threatened tough sanctions if Iran fails
to open up the plant.
Iran nucke plant `right size` for military use: US
Iran`s hidden, second
underground nuclear facility is the "right size" for the
production of a small amount of uranium suitable for military
use, a US official said today.
The official said that the size of the plant inside a
mountain at the holy city of Qom was inconsistent with it
being used for the peaceful purposes of producing energy.
But he said if the goal was producing a small amount of
enriched uranium for a military program "it is the right
size."
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
that the United States had known about intelligence
information on the secret plant for "some time" and that the
plant was not yet operational.
But he said that the plant, which included 3,000
centrifuge machines, was not yet operational and would not be
for at least a few months.
EU nuclear envoy agrees as well
The West`s chief nuclear
negotiator, Javier Solana, backed today demands by the United
States, Britain and France for UN access to a new atomic site
revealed by Iran, his spokeswoman said.
"We support the position" of the three, the spokeswoman
said, after US President Barack Obama, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called
on Iran to open the plant to UN inspections.
Since 2006, Solana has been negotiating on behalf of
major world powers to try to persuade Iran to enter talks on
suspending its enrichment activities in exchange for political
and economic incentives.
