Iran is designing a new nuclear reactor to make radio isotopes that will be "more powerful" than those from its existing Tehran research facility, atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said on Wednesday, as Parliament speaker urged for a push ahead with uranium enrichment.
"Iran is designing a reactor to produce radio isotopes which will be more powerful than the Tehran reactor and this reactor will be commissioned soon in the country," Salehi was quoted as saying on state television website.
Salehi, who oversees Iran’s nuclear program which Western powers suspect masks an atomic weapons drive, said the Islamic republic wanted to commission several such reactors.
"Our plan is to commission several reactors in the north, south, east and the west of the country so that we can produce radio isotopes for sale and export to the regional and Islamic countries that need them," Salehi said.
"Dual track" policy
Salehi said Iran has its own "dual-track" policy to deal with the world powers that have been implementing such a strategy against the Islamic republic.
"Our dual-track policy is to have dialogue based on honesty as a first step and, as a second step, to push ahead with our nuclear program in order to confront the pressure from enemies."
Parliament speaker Ali Larijani, meanwhile, called on Iran’s government to push ahead with its controversial program to enrich uranium up to 20 percent, despite being slapped with another bundle of fresh U.N. sanctions.
"The Iranian parliament demands that the government continues producing 20 percent enriched uranium and not stop it at all as some countries have not adhered to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and did not provide fuel for the Tehran research reactor," Larijani told parliament.
"The bullying countries must understand that their illogical pressure will be proportionately reciprocated by the level of our uranium enrichment which would depend on our needs," he was quoted as saying on parliament’s website.
Lawmakers chanted "Allahu Akbar" — God is greater — in the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran, also known as the Majlis, as Larijani made his defiant statement on the sensitive issue, ISNA news agency reported.
Enriching uranium is the most controversial aspect of Iran’s nuclear drive and the UN Security Council imposed on June 9 a fourth set of sanctions on Tehran for refusing to abandon the program.
Iranian officials have maintained Tehran will keep enriching uranium up to 20 percent after the West cold-shouldered a nuclear fuel swap proposal brokered by Brazil and Turkey even though several U.S. experts greeted the initiative a first step towards easing the tension with the Islamic Republic. The joint deal, proposed personally by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, aimed at providing the enriched material for the Tehran research reactor.
Uranium enriched to 20 percent level can be used as fuel to power nuclear reactors, but if refined to more than 90 percent level it can be used to make the fissile core of an atom bomb.
High-sea inspection of vessels
Larijani also dismissed the new round of sanctions imposed on the country and warned the United States and other countries against searching Iranian ships and planes as specified in the latest punitive measures.
"I am warning the adventurous America and other countries that in case they are tempted to inspect the cargo of Iranian ships and planes," the conservative speaker said. "They should rest assured that we will do the same with their ships in the Gulf and Sea of Oman."
This retaliation, Larijani added, would be part of the Islamic republic’s right to defend its national interests while attendees chanted, "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel!"
Around 40 percent of world oil supplies pass through the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.N. sanctions authorize states to conduct high-sea inspections of vessels believed to be ferrying banned items to or from Iran.
They also provide for cargo inspections, both in any port or at sea, if there is reason to suspect a ship is carrying conventional arms or nuclear missile items for Iran.
The sanctions resolution obligates states to seize and dispose of any prohibited items that are found in such cargo.