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Iran Fordow Enrichment Plant Will Never Be Shut Down, MP Says

Iran Official: Can't Stop, Won't Stop Enriching Uranium
Reuters
FILE - In this April 9, 2009 file picture Iranian technicians work at a new facility producing uranium fuel for a planned heavy-water nuclear reactor, just outside the city of Isfahan, 255 miles (410 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran. Iran is lagging behind on equipping a bunker with machines enriching uranium to a grade that can be turned quickly to arm nuclear warheads and now says will produce less at the site than originally planned, diplomats tell The Associated Press. The diplomats said that Iranian officials recently told the International Atomic Energy Agency that half of the approximately 1,000 centrifuges to be installed at the underground Fordow site will churn out uranium enriched to near 20 percent, while the rest will produce low-enriched material at around 3.5 percent. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi,File)
FILE - In this April 9, 2009 file picture Iranian technicians work at a new facility producing uranium fuel for a planned heavy-water nuclear reactor, just outside the city of Isfahan, 255 miles (410 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran. Iran is lagging behind on equipping a bunker with machines enriching uranium to a grade that can be turned quickly to arm nuclear warheads and now says will produce less at the site than originally planned, diplomats tell The Associated Press. The diplomats said that Iranian officials recently told the International Atomic Energy Agency that half of the approximately 1,000 centrifuges to be installed at the underground Fordow site will churn out uranium enriched to near 20 percent, while the rest will produce low-enriched material at around 3.5 percent. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi,File)

DUBAI, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Iran will never shut down its Fordow uranium enrichment plant, a senior legislator was quoted as saying on Sunday, brushing off a demand from world powers who fear Tehran is working to develop an atomic weapons capability.

The Islamic republic, which insists its nuclear programme is purely peaceful, started building the plant inside a mountain in secret as early as 2006, to protect it from air strikes.

Last week, Reuters reported world powers were planning to offer to ease sanctions barring trade in gold and other precious metals with Iran in return for steps to shut down Fordow.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, referred to the reported offer on Sunday and dismissed any idea of a closure, the Iranian Students' News Agency reported.

"Fordow will never be shut down because ... our national duty is to be able to defend our nuclear and vital centres against an enemy threat," Boroujerdi was quoted as saying by the agency.

"This suggestion (shutting down Fordow) is meant to help the Zionist regime (Israel)," he added.

Israel has threatened to attack Iran if diplomacy and sanctions fail to curb its nuclear programme, raising fears of a regional war.

The United States and its allies are particularly worried about Fordow because Iran is refining uranium there to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, which Iran says it needs for a medical reactor. Twenty percent purity is only a short technical step from weapons-grade uranium.

Western officials said last week the offer to ease sanctions barring gold and other precious metals trade with Iran would be presented at Feb. 26 talks between Iran and world powers in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

They acknowledged it represented a relatively modest update to proposals that the six major powers put forward last year.

Iran's parliament has little control over the Islamic Republic's foreign policy, which is decided by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Reporting By Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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