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Iran nuke plant 'would survive attack'
IRAN'S uranium enrichment facilities, built in underground bunkers, would survive any military strikes, the Islamic republic's nuclear program director said today."The enrichment facilities, particularly Natanz, are located underground and no offensive could damage them," said Gholamreza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, quoted by the student ISNA news agency. Mr Aghazadeh also boasted about the fortress like nature of its Isfahan plant, which is located in a network of subterranean tunnels, and touted Iran's uranium supplies. "Our reserves are extremely developed. We can extract uranium from mines in Bandar Abbas, Saghand and Yazd," he said. Israeli officials have raised the spectre of air strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities and the United States has refused to rule out the military option in their efforts to stop Tehran's drive for atomic power. Iran vehemently denies that its nuclear program serves any purpose other than to provide a source of energy for power plants, but the United States and European Union charge the Islamic republic is seeking an atomic bomb. "Iran is ready to provide any guarantees that our nuclear activities are not geared toward nuclear weapon production," said Mr Aghazadeh. On a defiant note, he said: "We have obtained our nuclear technology while the target of sanctions and we have not obtained it from the West. "s a consequence, (future) sanctions will not have any impact on our nuclear activities." Seeking to end the standoff between Iran and the international community, Russia and Tehran held talks today to develop Moscow's compromise proposal for uranium enrichment to be carried out on Russian soil, but the visit ended with no breakthrough. If Iran rejects the Russian plan, tension will rise rapidly ahead of the March 6 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors, which voted earlier this month to report Tehran to the UN Security Council. The UN body could slap sanctions on the Islamic republic. Posted by: tipper 2006-02-21 |
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