TEHRAN: Iran delivered a resolute message Sunday on the eve of talks with six world powers: We're mining our own uranium now, so there is no stopping our nuclear ambitions.
The Islamic Republic said it has produced its first batch of locally mined uranium ore for enrichment, making it independent of foreign countries for a process the West fears is geared toward producing nuclear arms.
No matter the UN sanctions over the program, ''our nuclear activities will proceed and they will witness greater achievements in the future,'' Iranian nuclear chief Ali Salehi told state-run Press TV.
Western officials downplayed the announcement, saying it had been expected and that Iran did not have enough ore to maintain the large-scale enrichment program that Tehran says it is building as a source of fuel for an envisaged network of nuclear reactors.
''Given that Iran's own supply of uranium is not enough for a peaceful nuclear energy program, this calls into further question Iran's intentions and raises additional concerns at a time when Iran needs to address the concerns of the international community,'' said Mike Hammer, spokesman of the US National Security Council.
Sunday's announcement makes clear that Iran does not consider uranium enrichment to be up for discussion at the talks beginning Monday in Geneva. Tehran is determined to expand the program instead of scrapping it as the UN Security Council demands.
Expectations for the talks had been low even before the announcement, with Iran saying it is prepared to discuss nuclear issues only in the context of global disarmament.
Officials from some of the six powers have said they would be pleased if negotiations yielded no more than agreement to meet at a later date to explore common themes.
The ultimate aim of the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany is to commit Tehran to give up enrichment because of its potential use in making nuclear arms.
The talks in Geneva, the first in over a year, are meant to lay the cornerstone for establishing trust. Tehran says it does not want atomic arms, but as it builds on its capacity to potentially make such weapons, neither Israel nor the US have ruled out military action if the Islamic Republic fails to heed UN Security Council demands to freeze enrichment and other nuclear programs.
The talks are expected to take two days. Saeed Jalili, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, will meet with EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, with Ashton's office saying she will act ''on behalf'' of the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. In fact, senior officials for those six powers will attend and do much of the talking with Tehran.
Ahead of the talks, Western officials urged Tehran to address international concerns about its nuclear activities.
Invoking possible military confrontation over Iran's nuclear defiance, British Defense Secretary Liam Fox said Saturday that the Geneva talks need to make a serious start toward resolving the issue.
''We want a negotiated solution, not a military one but Iran needs to work with us to achieve that outcome,'' he said. ''We will not look away or back down.''
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it was up to Iran to restore trust about its nuclear intentions, urging it to come to Geneva prepared to ''firmly, conclusively reject the pursuit of nuclear weapons.''
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said a nuclear-armed Iran ''was unacceptable for us.''
Sunday's announcement by Salehi burdened the pre-talk atmosphere, adding to tensions left by the assassination last week of a prominent Iranian nuclear scientist and the wounding of another.
Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and the country's vice president, said Iran had for the first time delivered domestically mined raw uranium to a processing facility allowing it to bypass UN sanctions prohibiting import of the material.
Salehi said the uranium ore concentrate, known as yellowcake, was produced at the Gachin uranium mine in southern Iran and delivered to the uranium conversion facility in the central city of Isfahan for reprocessing.
Yellowcake is processed into uranium hexafluoride, which later can be turned into a gas used as feedstock for enriching uranium. Uranium enriched to low grades is used for fuel in nuclear reactors, but further enrichment makes it suitable for atomic bombs.
Salehi said the delivery was evidence that the mysterious bombings targeting the two Iranian nuclear scientists would not slow the country's progress.
''Today, we witnessed the shipment of the first domestically produced yellowcake ... from Gachin mine to the Isfahan nuclear facility,'' said Salehi, whose comments were broadcast live on state television.
Iran acquired a considerable stock of yellowcake from South Africa in the 1970s under the former US-backed shah's original nuclear program, as well as unspecified quantities of yellowcake obtained from China long before the UN sanctions. – AP
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