Region | Iran
West demands access to Iran's secret nuclear plant
World leaders are demanding access for UN inspectors to a secret Iranian nuclear plant, threatening tough sanctions.
- Agencies
- Published: 08:24 September 26, 2009
- Image Credit: AP
- US President Barack Obama, followed by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives to make a statement on Iran's nuclear facility in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh: World leaders are demanding access for UN inspectors to a secret Iranian nuclear plant, threatening tough new sanctions should Tehran refuse to come clean.
The demand came after US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown revealed that Tehran had built a second uranium enrichment facility.
Sarkozy threatened sanctions if Iran did not agree to talks on its nuclear program at talks with the international six-nation contact group on October 1.
Western leaders made it clear that they did not believe that the site had a civilian role, being what one US official said was "the right size" to produce weapons grade uranium.
"We expect the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) to immediately investigate this disturbing information and to report to the IAEA board of governors," Obama said, branding the new plant a "direct challenge" to international non-proliferation rules.
"I think Iran is on notice that, when we meet with them on October 1, they are going to have to come clean and they are going to have to make a choice," Obama said.
British Prime Minister Brown said the scale of the Iranian "serial deception of many years ... will shock and anger the world."
"The international community has no choice today but to draw a line in the sand," he said, warning that Iranian faces "further more stringent sanctions".
However, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended Iran's move as “perfectly legal".
Ahmadinejad said in New York on Friday that Iran had informed the UN's international nuclear watchdog about the plant's existence and "should be encouraged for that. It was perfectly legal."
Iran's nuclear program chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said the mystery second plant had been built to ensure Iran could continue to refine uranium during air raids on its other sites.
"Considering the threats, our organisation decided to do what is necessary to preserve and continue our nuclear activities," he told Iranian television.
"So we decided to build new installations which will guarantee the continuation of our nuclear activities which will never stop at any cost," Salehi said.
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