Iran's nuclear decision 'irreversible' - Rafsanjani

Forbes:

08.12.2005, 08:17 AM

TEHRAN (AFX) - Iran's decision to resume uranium conversion is 'irreversible' despite a resolution by the UN nuclear watchdog calling on Iran to halt sensitive nuclear fuel cycle work, a top regime figure said today.

'Bear in mind that you cannot treat Iran like Iraq or Libya,' Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the influential former president said in a weekly Friday sermon.

'You could drag things on but Iran's decision is irreversible,' he said, drawing chants of 'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel' from the worshippers.

Rafsanjani's remarks came a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors adopted a resolution expressing 'serious concern' at Tehran's decision to resume uranium conversion activities.

The resolution urged Iran to re-establish full suspension of all enrichment-related activities, after Tehran raised the stakes in the dispute by removing IAEA seals at a conversion facility in Isfahan, 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of Tehran.

'Do not take lightly what happened at the IAEA,' Rafsanjani warned.

'It is very important and will create new conditions for our country and the region. It will turn a new leaf in the history of our revolution,' said the prominent ayatollah who heads Iran's top arbitration body, the Expediency Council.

Rafsanjani was the top challenger in Iran's recent presidential election. He campaigned as a moderate conservative who favoured rapprochement with the West and pledged to offer greater assurances that Iran would not turn a civilian system into a military nuclear program, but was defeated by hardliner Mahmood Ahmadinejad.