- ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The
United States Sunday condemned Iran for persisting with what Washington
regards as an atomic bomb-making program.
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- "Iran needs to come clean and fully cooperate with
its international obligations," White House spokesman Scott McClellan
told reporters traveling with President Bush to a NATO summit in Istanbul.
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- "Iran's continued failure to comply with the International
Atomic Energy Agency and continued failure to stop all enrichment-related
reprocessing activities only reinforce the concern we have expressed,"
McClellan said.
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- Iran said Sunday it would resist international pressure
to reverse its decision to produce parts for centrifuges that enrich uranium,
reneging on a pledge to suspend all enrichment activities.
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- If enriched to a low level, uranium can be used as fuel
for electricity-generating reactors such as the one Iran is building on
its south coast. But if enriched further, to weapons-grade, it can be deployed
in warheads.
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- Washington has pushed its Western allies to take a tougher
line on Iran but Britain, Germany and France have resisted, preferring
to try to persuade Tehran that it is in its interests to come clean on
nuclear activities.
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- The U.S. official said Iran's defiance would help persuade
other countries to consider referring the issue to the United Nations,
which could impose economic sanctions.
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- "We have expressed concern within the IAEA about
the need to consider sending this matter to the Security Council of the
United Nations and I think this latest move may only serve to convince
others of the need to seriously consider that step," McClellan said.
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- The United States, the European Union and the IAEA condemned
Iran Saturday for resuming centrifuge part production and urged Iran to
rethink its decision.
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- Iran insists its ambitions are entirely peaceful and
has said it has no immediate plans to pump uranium hexafluoride gas into
spinning centrifuges to start the enrichment process.
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oryID=552268 7
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