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Iran Announces Expansion of Nuclear Fuel Production After Talks After Talks End, Iran Announces an Expansion of Nuclear Fuel Production
(about 5 hours later)
Iran announced an expansion of its uranium production and claimed other atomic energy advances on Tuesday, striking a newly defiant tone over its nuclear dispute with the big powers in the aftermath of diplomatic talks over the weekend that apparently made no progress. MOSCOW — Iran’s president announced an expansion of the country’s uranium production and claimed other atomic energy advances on Tuesday, striking a pugnacious tone in the aftermath of diplomatic talks that ended in an impasse with the big powers last weekend in Kazakhstan.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who proclaimed the news in a speech, coupled it with harsh criticism of what he called “hegemonic powers” that have sought to damage Iran’s dignity through pressures — a clear reference to economic sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union over the nuclear dispute. “Iran has already become a nuclear country and no one is capable of stealing this title,” the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, proclaimed in a speech in Tehran during a ceremony commemorating National Nuclear Technology Day, a holiday he created in 2006 during his first term in office to trumpet Iran’s nuclear energy achievements.
“Iran has already become a nuclear country, and no one is capable of stealing this title,” the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Mr. Ahmadinejad as saying at a ceremony held to commemorate National Nuclear Technology Day, a holiday he created in 2006 during his first term in office in order to exalt Iran’s nuclear energy achievements. Mr. Ahmadinejad, who is at the center of a power struggle in Iran over who will succeed him after presidential elections in June, also took aim at the United States and “hegemonic powers” in the European Union that have sought to penalize Iran with onerous economic sanctions aimed at pressuring it to capitulate in their nuclear dispute.
“They caused restrictions and issued threats, thinking that the Iranian nation cannot achieve nuclear energy,” he was quoted as saying. “The best way for you is to cooperate with Iran.” “They caused restrictions and issued threats, thinking that the Iranian nation cannot achieve nuclear energy,” the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted him as saying.
He said Iran had opened two uranium extraction mines in the central province of Yazd and a factory in the same area to manufacture yellowcake, a form of semirefined uranium that can be further processed into nuclear fuel. The president also announced that Iranian nuclear scientists had created five new medicines and a homemade industrial electron accelerator. While such rhetoric is hardly out of character, it showed how the talks had failed to narrow the divide between Iran and the six world powers that are demanding curbs in its nuclear program.
The announcements came three days after talks adjourned between Iran and a group of six nations — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States — over Iran's defiance of United Nations Security Council demands for a halt to the uranium enrichment until questions about Iran's nuclear intentions are answered. Western nations suspect that Iran is seeking to achieve the capability to make nuclear weapons, despite its denials. Iran has defied United Nations Security Council demands for a halt to the uranium enrichment until questions about its nuclear intentions are answered. It has denied accusations that it intends to build a nuclear weapon and has argued that it needs the enriched uranium for energy and medical uses.
The talks, held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, ended with no announcement of when they might resume, one of several indications of an impasse. The talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan, ended late Saturday without a deal, and with no plans for a next round of discussions — capping a year of talks that by all accounts has not brought the sides any closer. At a briefing afterward, a senior American official said that Iran had not offered a detailed response to a proposal advanced by the big powers in February and that it had made unrealistic demands.
Secretary of State John Kerry, reacting to the Iranian president’s announcements, called them provocative and said the negotiations with Iran could not be open-ended. Mr. Kerry spoke as he was departing from a visit to Israel, where suspicions that Iran has malevolent nuclear intentions are particularly strong. “That minimal response not only had very, very tiny steps in our view, but wanted a lot in return for those tiny steps,” the official said. “So this is a negotiation, but the gulf between their current position and ours is quite great.”
European diplomatic officials reacted in more measured tones to Mr. Ahmadinejad’s proclamations, noting that he has made grand announcements of Iranian nuclear progress on the annual holiday since he created it seven years ago. Previous announcements have touted the inauguration of Iran’s first nuclear fuel plant and new centrifuges for enriching uranium, some of which turned out to be exaggerated. European officials said Iran had refused to suspend the enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity, a level considered a short technical step to the higher level of purity needed for weapons-grade fuel. The Europeans also said Iran had refused to suspend work at Fordo, an underground processing plant, in a way that would make quick resumption difficult.
“It does not come as a surprise that Iran makes announcements on its nuclear program on its ‘national nuclear day,’ ” said Michael Mann, a spokesman for Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s top foreign policy official, who represents the group of six powers in the Iran talks. The officials said Iran expressed no interest in a deal to export most of its 20 percent-enriched uranium in exchange for nuclear fuel, saying it now has the capability to produce the fuel itself.
“Our position remains unchanged: We urge Iran to bring its nuclear activities into compliance with its international obligations,” Mr. Mann said. Iran, he said, should engage with the group “on an initial confidence-building step without further delay.” Iran’s rejection was significant because the proposal, which was made at an earlier round of talks and would have offered Iran a modest easing of sanctions, represented a softened position by the six powers, which had demanded that Iran close its Fordo plant and relinquish its entire stockpile of 20 percent-enriched uranium.
The triumphal tone of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s announcements was undercut somewhat by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake that jolted the countryside in southern Iran near Bushehr, the site of its only nuclear power plant, built by the Russians. Iran’s state news media said that the quake, which was felt in neighboring Dubai, killed 30 people, wounded 800 and heavily damaged two villages, but that the plant had not been affected. Russian news services quoted officials of the company that built the Bushehr plant, Atomstroyexport, as saying operations there were proceeding normally. As Israel and other critics who believe the Iranians are stalling for time renewed their calls for more decisive action, negotiators for the big powers planned to confer with senior officials in London, where the Group of 8 foreign ministers were meeting this week.
Negotiators representing the so-called P5-plus-1, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany, expressed hope that the impasse would give their Iranian counterparts pause.
The American official said the Iranians needed to “go back to Tehran and discuss with their government what they heard and the fact that we felt there was such a gulf that we wanted to stop and have these consultations before proceeding further.”
Mr. Ahmadinejad did not display the intended reaction. He said that Iran had opened two uranium extraction mines in the central province of Yazd and a factory in the same area to manufacture yellowcake, a form of semi-refined uranium that can be processed into nuclear fuel. The president also announced that Iranian nuclear scientists had created five new medicines and a homemade industrial electron accelerator.
Until now, the big powers have been unified in their efforts to prevent Iran from developing the capacity to make nuclear weapons. With time, though, differences may develop. Russia, for instance, has expressed more readiness than its Western partners to recognize that Iran has a sovereign right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes — a recognition that the Iranian negotiators are demanding as a precursor to any deal.
The Western powers, particularly France, are adamantly opposed to recognizing any such right without a comprehensive agreement and substantial “confidence building” measures.
In his speech, Mr. Ahmadinejad offered no signal that Iran was ready to take such steps. On the contrary, he asserted that the Western powers must win Iran’s trust. “The best way for you is to cooperate with Iran,” he said.
The next steps are unclear. Russia and China, which have opposed economic sanctions, are likely to resist further steps at the United Nations, while the Americans and Europeans have warned of imposing more on their own. The American official, speaking after the Almaty talks, noted that President Obama had repeatedly said he would “not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.”
The triumphal tone of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s announcements was undercut somewhat by a 6.3 earthquake that jolted the countryside in southern Iran near Bushehr, the site of its only nuclear power plant. Iran state news media said the quake, which was felt in neighboring Dubai, killed at least 30 people, injured hundreds and heavily damaged two villages, but that the power plant had not been affected.

David M. Herszenhorn reported from Moscow and Rick Gladstone from New York. Steven Erlanger contributed reporting from Paris.