Tehran condemns G-8 stance on nuke programme

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TEHRAN, Jun 10 (AP): Iran has condemned a G-8 warning that it could face more sanctions over its controversial nuclear programme, the country's official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Mohamad Ali Hosseini, the spokesman of Iran's foreign ministry, said Iran welcomed diplomatic solutions "to answer questions and possible ambiguities over its peaceful nuclear programme," IRNA said late Saturday.
But Hosseini said the G-8 statement went against what he called the intent of the international community, to work on the nuclear issue through talks and negotiation.
He reiterated that Iran would not accept demands that it suspend uranium enrichment, which can be used both to generate energy and to create a nuclear weapon, before any negotiations.
The Group of Eight indudstrialised countries said Friday they would "support adopting further measures" if Iran refused to put a halt to its uranium enrichment programme.
The G-8 leaders, at a summit in Germany, said they would back UN Security Council moves on a third set of sanctions against Iran if Tehran failed to suspend the programme.
On Tuesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran's nuclear programme could not be stopped, and that any Western attempt to force a halt to uranium enrichment would be like playing "with the lion's tail."
The Security Council first imposed sanctions on Iran in December and modestly increased them in March over Iran's refusal to suspend enrichment.
Iran says it is within its rights to pursue uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes.
The United States and some of its allies fear that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme under cover of its civilian nuclear activities.
Iran denies that and says its programme is aimedg at peaceful purposes such as generating electrical energy.
AFP from Vienna adds: the UN nuclear agency opens a meeting Monday in Vienna with Russia saying a proposed US missile defence shield could complicate resolving the crisis caused by fears Iran seeks atomic weapons.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday in Moscow that US missile defence plans could "seriously complicate" efforts by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to resolve the stand-off over Iran's nuclear programme.
"Work is under way within the framework of the United Nations, the IAEA. We want this to fully clarify all aspects. The deployment of the missile shield in Europe may complicate these efforts, put in question Iran's willingness to openly cooperate," Lavrov said.
The Group of Eight powers, which includes both the United States and Russia, had Friday at the end of a summit in Germany threatened to take new measures against Iran if Tehran continues to ignore UN demands to halt its uranium enrichment.
Iran is defying two rounds of UN Security Council sanctions imposed to get it to stop enrichment, which makes fuel for civilian nuclear reactors but which can also be used to make atom bombs.
The IAEA's 35-nation board of governors will be hearing next week a report from agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei which states that Iran is in fact expanding enrichment work.
Iran had as of May 13, over 1,300 centrifuges enriching uranium at an underground facility in Natanz, according to a copy of the report obtained by the news agency.
Iran could reach its goal of industrial scale production with 3,000 centrifuges running by the end of June, a senior official close to the IAEA said.
This number of centrifuges if running at full capacity could make enough enriched uranium for a bomb in a little less than a year, according to experts.
Iran insists its programme is a peaceful effort to generate electricity to which it has a right under the nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty.