'No need' for Iranian nuclear arms: Ahmadinejad

'No need' for Iranian nuclear arms: Ahmadinejad
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Sept 13, 2011

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted on Tuesday that his country has "no need" for nuclear weapons, amid new concerns from an international atomic watchdog group about Tehran's atomic ambitions.

"We do not need nuclear weapons and we do not accept that," Ahmadinejad told the NBC television "Today Show" program. "We are against that," he said.

He made his remarks as the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meets in Vienna this week to discuss, among other matters, Iran's nuclear activities, which many in the West suspect are aimed at developing atomic weapons.

The IAEA, which is meeting at its Vienna headquarters from Monday to Friday, was also to discuss the atomic nuclear aspirations of Syria and North Korea.

The IAEA said in a confidential report obtained earlier this month by AFP that it is "increasingly concerned about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed nuclear related activities involving military related organizations," the report said.

These included "activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile".

The Islamic republic insists, however, that its activities are aimed exclusively at developing nuclear power.

"This is an old and repeated story," Ahmadinejad told NBC television.

"In principle, we are against nuclear weapons because it is against our beliefs and our ideology," he said.

The UN Security Council has slapped four rounds of sanctions on Iran to get it to suspend uranium enrichment, a process which can produce fuel for a reactor but which also can be used in a nuclear warhead.

The 35-member IAEA board was also to discuss nuclear safety in Japan following the Fukushima disaster last March.

The IAEA issued a 12-point program encouraging fresh assessments and emergency plans for the world's 440 nuclear plants.

Buy Advertising

Editorial Enquiries

Iran plant shows it does not need enrichment: US
Washington (AFP) Sept 12, 2011 - The fact that Iran's first nuclear power plant is now onstream is proof that the Islamic republic does not need the ability to conduct uranium enrichment, the US State Department said Monday.

A ceremony was held at the Russian-built plant in the southern Iranian port of Bushehr on Monday to mark the facility reaching 40 percent of its full capacity.

"We would note that Russia's agreement with Iran on Bushehr provides that Russia will provide the fuel for Bushehr and will take back the spent fuel," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

That fact "in our view underscores the point that Iran doesn't need its own enrichment facilities because it can receive fuel from the international community, as it is in this case," she said.

Iran is targeted by UN Security Council and international sanctions over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment amid fears in the West that it seeks to build a nuclear bomb -- a charge it vehemently denies.

Nuland also said that with the opening of the Bushehr plant, "Iran is now the only country in the world with an operating power reactor that has not ratified the Convention on Nuclear Safety."

She called that fact "quite troubling."

"More broadly, the Bushehr opening doesn't change the fact that Iran still has to meet its larger obligations to the international community and the IAEA," Nuland said.

Mohammad Ahmadian, deputy head of Iran's atomic organisation in charge of power plants, said Monday the Bushehr plant would be linked to the national grid with its full 1,000-megawatt capacity by the end of the Iranian year in March.

Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks

del.icio.us

Digg

Google

Russia defends bomber flights near Japan
Moscow (AFP) Sept 12, 2011
Russia on Monday defended its strategic bombers' recent mission near Japan and accused Tokyo of trying to stir up the long-standing territorial row between the two countries. The Russian foreign ministry confirmed that two of its air force's Tu-95MS nuclear-capable bombers had conducted exercises around the Pacific on Thursday but said Tokyo had been notified of the flights in advance. I ... read more

European satellite in French Guiana launch

Arianespace to launch Amazonas-3 for Hispasat

Roscosmos to enhance control of Soyuz rocket engines' production

Russia beefs up Plesetsk space center funding

Orbiter Resumes Use of Camera

Sealed-in British scientist relies on plants to breathe

Microbe Risk When Rover Wheels Hit Martian Dirt

Finishing Work at Tinsdale 2

United Launch Alliance Launches GRAIL Spacecrafts To Moon

NASA launches twin spacecraft to study Moon's core

Second bid to launch NASA's Moon-bound spacecraft

NASA to launch Moon-bound twin spacecraft

Dwarf Planet Mysteries Beckon to New Horizons

The PI's Perspective: Visiting Four Moons, in Just Four Years, for All Mankind

Citizen Scientists Discover a New Horizons Flyby Target

View from the Summit: Hunting for KBOs at the Top of the World

Invisible World Discovered

The diamond planet

Greenhouse Effect Could Extend Habitable Zone

A Planet Made of Diamond

Ball Aerospace To Develop Cryogenic Storage and Transfer Concepts for NASA

First Space-Bound Orion Comes Alive With First Weld

Production on major part of China jumbo rocket completed, maiden voyage by 2015

Soyuz-U carrier rocket crash - causes announced, questions remain

Tiangong 1 might be launched in late September

Chang'e-2 moon orbiter travels around L2 in outer space

China State media says Tiangong 1 to launch in early Sept

Time Limits for Tiangong

Dawn has completed the first phase of its exploration of Vesta

Japanese Asteroid Mission a Success

Earth-bound asteroids come from stony asteroids

NASA Plans to Visit a Near-Earth Asteroid

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS
Solar Energy Solutions :: Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily Express :: SpaceWar Express :: TerraDaily Express :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2011 - Space Media Network. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement