Iran says it won’t stop enrichment
Iran will not suspend its uranium enrichment work as demanded by a United Nations resolution, the country’s top nuclear official said Sunday as a deadline loomed.
On Dec. 23, the Security Council imposed limited sanctions on Iran after it refused to suspend its atomic program, which Western powers worry will be used to produce nuclear weapons.
It gave Iran 60 days to halt enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear reactors, which Tehran says is its aim, or material for warheads.
“We believe that the resolution has serious legal and executive problems. We have said from the beginning that Iran will not implement it,” said Gholamreza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
Asked about Iran’s plans to expand enrichment capacity at its Natanz site by installing 3,000 more centrifuges, Aghazadeh said: “Be patient, it will not take long. We will inform you about this issue.”
Washington said it would be a “miscalculation” if Iran thought it could install the centrifuges and avoid another resolution.
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