IRAN: Nuclear plant will open to inspectors

The head of Iran’s nuclear program said today that he will soon announce a timetable for international inspectors to visit what until last week was a secret underground uranium-enrichment plant being built near the holy city of Qom.

Iran’s Press TV reported that Ali Akbar Salehi, director of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, has informed the United Nations that the plant will produce uranium enriched up to 5% – it takes at least 90% enrichment to make a nuclear weapon.

Salehi was quoted as saying: "It is against our tenets, it is against our religion to produce, use, hold or have nuclear weapons or arsenal, how can we more clearly state our position, since 1974 we have been saying this." 

 The offer to grant international inspectors access to the plant comes as Western pressure is growing to enact new economic sanctions against Tehran. Washington and its European allies have accused Iran of deception in a nuclear program that they maintain is intended for building weapons. The U.S. and other world powers will meet with an Iranian delegation on Thursday in Geneva.

Reuters quoted a senior Western diplomat as saying: "The talks are pretty much doomed. It's clear Iran is not going to say what we want to hear, and we're going to have to move to the next phase," he said, alluding to wider sanctions.

-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Ali Akbar Salehi, director of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. Credit: Press TV Iran 

Comments

[azeta parsa]

It is appalling! After watching the regime barbaric treatment of the peaceful demonstrators, I think I know enough about the Islamic Regime's religion. In addition, I just finished reading an article that many young boys, teenagers , as young as 14 and 15 were beaten and raped viciously in prison. Nothing is against this regime's religion.

[A Concerned American]

And they SAY they have nothing to hide????

Plus they also say that that they will wipe Israel off the map.....

[JOHN BAGOTI]

Iran must be told in plain language that the civilized world cannot afford to have any more known Atomic Weapon producing Nation. Iran has to stop her atomic weapons plan or related development at once and if not be ready to face the entire world to take action against her in a universal demand BUT AT THE SAME TIME THE WORLD HAS TO SAY IN ONE VOICE THAT ISRAEL must also follow the same demand and destroy her atomic weapons at once and be ready to follow all the U. N. Resolutions or face the world sanctions. Obama is ranting every day and night that he will be the just and fair President, let him to show it to the world that really he is.

[Guzelvis]

No wonder Gadhafi trashed Ahmadinejad at U.N. Read the funny story @ http://bit.ly/15Wtzv

[Felonious.Punk]

The bias of the link to this article and the article itself is frustrating. The entire coverage of Iranian affairs in this paper/website is unbelievably biased against their every national action.
Your article printed this:

"
The offer to grant inspectors access to the plant comes as pressure grows to enact new economic sanctions against Tehran.
"

The truth of the matter is that Iran was the first to step up on the issue with the announcement to the IAEA of their new, in the works plant; next came the IAEA's acceptance of the announcement, and urging to be notified when it could come and inspect; then came the international outcries over the "secret" plant and threats of sanctions; followed by Ahmadinejad's explanation that Iran is only following international protocol; after this came the CIA boast that it had known of the plant for years; this was followed by 3 days of Iran's missile testing; and finally now the announcement that a timetable for inspectors to enter will soon be announced.

It seems as if the real communication between Iran and the IAEA is being ignored, while the paranoia among a handful of nations is reported on.

This seems to be a consistent theme of the L.A. Times'. This is frustrating considering the fact that we, the United States, happen to be the only nation in the world that has actually detonated nuclear weapons on foreign soil.
It is time for cooperation as opposed to competition, trust as opposed to suspicion. And I am currently looking for a news source that reflects this shift in world consciousness, instead of the L.A. Times which seems stuck in a World War II type mentality that feels compelled to identify a Hitler to rally against.

[Chaves]

UN and US must take a serious action to prevent nuclear thread or word war III will happen...

[Schigolch]

If Israel's nuclear weapons could be eliminated, it would go a long way toward reducing the need for Iran to develop nuclear weapons.