Iran picks new enrichment site

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 4-19-2010 | Associated Press

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has approved the site for a new enrichment facility Iran plans to build, his top adviser said Monday, the latest step in expanding a nuclear program that the United Nations has demanded Teheran halt.

Still, in an apparent attempt to ward off a new UN sanctions, Iran's foreign minister said his country wants to hold further discussions on a nuclear fuel deal that was originally touted as a possible way to ease the standoff but has since hit a dead end.

The United States and its allies are trying to rally support for new UN sanctions on Iran over its refusal to stop enrichment, fearing Teheran will use the process to build a nuclear weapon. Iran denies any intention to do so, saying its nuclear program aims only to generate electricity.

The new enrichment plant would be Iran's third. Ahmadinejad approved the location for the new facility, his top adviser Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi said, without specifying where the site is.

Samareh Hashemi said work will begin "upon the president's order," without specifying when, according to the ILNA news agency Monday.

Iran's government approved plans in November to build 10 new uranium enrichment facilities. Earlier this year, Iran's nuclear chief announced that construction on two of the 10 would begin during this Iranian calendar year, which runs from March 2010 to March 2011.

Iran currently has two uranium enrichment plants — one operating in the central city of Natanz and a second, near the city of Qom, that has not begun enriching.

The United Nations has demanded enrichment be suspended because the process can be used to produce a nuclear bomb as well as fuel for a nuclear reactor.