http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/134689by Avi Yellin and Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
(IsraelNN.com) Iran and the United States traded diplomatic punches Sunday night, with the Islamic Republic announcing it will build 10 more uranium enrichment plants and the United States responding that it risks breaking international law. The Iranian declaration came only two days after the United Nations atomic energy watchdog took a swipe at Iran for building a previously undisclosed uranium enrichment facility.
Ali Akhbar Salahi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said that his government’s decision to build the new facilities is a “determined response” to what he called “the obscene move” made by the six powers (America, Britain, France, China, Russia, Germany) in the International Atomic Energy Agency, which last week demanded that Iran immediately halt all uranium enrichment activities.
Following weeks of Iranian posturing that it might be willing to cooperate with IAEA officials and allow inspection of some of its nuclear facilities, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani warned Sunday that the country could "seriously decrease" cooperation with the international agency.
"We have cordially approached to the world but we will not allow an inch of our nation's right to be wasted," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Sunday. "We treat the entire world with kindness and friendship. However, we are not joking around with anyone, and we do not allow the rights of the Iranian nation to be violated even by one iota.”
The United States responded swiftly, "If carried out, this would constitute yet another violation of Iran's continuing obligation of suspension of all enrichment-related activities including construction of new plants," according to a U.S. State Department spokesman quoted by the French new agency AFP.
Analysts doubt that Iran has the capability, both economically and technically, to carry out its construction plans, but the announcement itself throws into array Western efforts to pressure Tehran to back off its suspected plans to build a nuclear weapon.
Iran escalated its anti-Western policy with another move on Sunday, budgeting $20 million to investigate alleged human rights abused by the American and British governments, according to Iranian Press TV.