TEHRAN, June 15: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday his country would not bow to pressure over its atomic programme, implicitly rejecting international calls to suspend nuclear enrichment.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will not bend to these pressures,” he said, referring to proposals drawn up by Britain, France and Germany, and backed by the United States, Russia and China, in a bid to defuse the nuclear crisis.
“The continuation of this scientific progress is its fundamental and basic right,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, quoted by state television in a meeting with staff of the Iranian Nuclear Energy Organization.
The big powers have urged Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment programme.
They have offered an “incentives package,’ including the lifting of some US trade sanctions and international support for the building of new light water reactors in Iran, according to a copy of the proposal shown to AFP.
The world powers — which presented the offer of trade, security and technology benefits to Tehran on June 6 — are holding off on threatening sanctions until they receive a response from Iran.
“Iranian youths achieving the nuclear technology is a historical milestone, and this move should be pursued in other (scientific) fields,” he added, after a briefing on Iran’s nuclear breakthroughs.
“The main key of power, progress and happiness of a nation is science and technology. A nation that is determined on building its own fate must find this key,” he said.
Ayatollah Khamenei’s defiant remarks came as the United States urged Iran to make the best choice by accepting the “benefits” in return for guarantees it will not develop atomic weapons.
Gregory Schulte, US ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, called on Iran to cooperate with the IAEA, which has been investigating Tehran for more than three years.
The UN nuclear watchdog has been meeting in Vienna to discuss Tehran’s nuclear programme.
IAEA board members were reviewing two reports from agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, one from April 28 and the other from last week, which show Iran has ignored calls to halt uranium enrichment.
The process can be used to make reactor fuel to generate nuclear power, but can also produce atom bomb material.—AFP
