Iran plans 10 more nuclear enrichment plants; sees NPT as pointless

Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani speaks at his press conference
in the parliament in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Nov. 30, 2009.
AP Photo/Vahid Salemi

On Monday, an Iranian conservative parliamentary official stated that the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPF) served no use for Iran, and that the country should exit the treaty. This comes a day after Iran announced that it would build ten additional uranium enrichment plants in highly secure areas.

Ali Akbar Salehi, Vice President of Iran as well as chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization was quoted by Iranian state media outlet IRIB as saying, “This decision (to create new enrichment sites) was the result of the recent (IAEA) resolution, and Iran’s government sent a strong message.” He also added, “We had no intention of building many facilities like the Natanz site but apparently the West doesn't want to understand Iran's peaceful message.”

Concerning the NPF, earlier today, speaker of the Iranian parliament Ali Larijani said in a press meeting, “I believe that their moves are harming the NPT the most ... Now whether you are a member of the NPT or pull out of it has no difference.” In addition, a newspaper with close ties to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei published in an opinion article asking whether I was time for Iran to remove itself from the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

However, officials in Iran have said that Iran will not leave the NPF. Reuters news agency reports that strategic analysts do not think that Iran would remove itself from the NPF as it may in international eyes, prove nuclear weapons intentions, and could risk attacks by Israel and the United States on the sites.

Last week, the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) condemned Iran for it lack of transparency in its nuclear program, as well as its unwillingness to show the international community that its nuclear program has peaceful intentions. The IAEA has stated that Iran’s unwillingness to cooperate “does not contribute to the building of confidence.” The Director General of the IAEA Mohamed ElBaradei remarked in his final report, “There has been no movement on remaining issues of concern which need to be clarified for the agency to verify the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program,” and that inspectors “have effectively reached a dead end,” unless Iran starts to cooperate.

Iran contends that its nuclear program is merely for peaceful purposes of energy creation, as allowed in the NPF. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that by the year 2020, Iran should have the capability to produce 20,000 megawatts of nuclear power a year. However, despite the building of a delayed nuclear reactor by the Russians, the Iran does not have any significant known construction of other power plants. They do have plans to build 19 more plants in the future.

The West maintains that Iran is building a nuclear weapons program. Evidence of the creation of two-point implosion devices by Iran tends to support this accusation.

Presently, Iran’s one uranium enrichment facility at Natanz is working at 10% of capability, with approximately 5,000 operating centrifuges. The plant has the potential for the operation of 54,000 centrifuges. The ten additional facilities would each have this same maximum operational potential.

The facility near Qom, which Iran was made known to the IAEA in September, is a smaller facility, and according to Iran was built in case the Natanz plant was attacked by another country.

The IAEA has not yet responded on Iran’s announcement to build the ten additional facilities. In a written statement on Sunday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, “The international community has made clear that Iran has rights, but with those rights come responsibilities. As the overwhelming IAEA board of governors vote made clear, time is running out for Iran to address the international community's growing concerns about its nuclear program.”

On Friday, after the IAEA vote, Gibbs stated, “Our patience and that of the international community is limited, and time is running out. If Iran refuses to meet its obligations, then it will be responsible for its own growing isolation and the consequences.”

United States President Barack Obama warned Iran in mid-November that there would be consequences to its failure to respond to the IAEA proposal, yet made it clear that the door was still open for them for a limited time if they chose diplomacy.