Iran's state news agency, said Sunday that Iranian government approved 10 new uranium enrichment plants to produce nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants. On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency or IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog had censured Iran over its nuclear programme and called on Tehran to halt the construction of a newly revealed enrichment facility near the city of Qom.
The capacity of the new ten nuclear plants is expected to be the same as Natanz site each to produce fuel for power plants to generate 20,000 megawatts electricity to meet the growing national demand for electricity.
According to Irna the 20-Year Vision Plan for Economic, Social and Cultural Development planned to set up 20 nuclear power plants to produce 1,000 megawatts electricity each.
"We need some 500,000 centrifuges to produce fuel for the power plants under construction to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity for domestic use," said President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who chaired the Cabinet meeting which decided to construct new plants.
"We should be able to produce 250 - 300 tons of fuel per hour and to attain the goal we need more new modern centrifuges with higher speed," Ahmadinejad said.
Commenting on implications of the decision, Ahmadinejad said "We welcome friendly ties with the world, in the meantime, we never let them violate the legitimate rights of Iranian nation as little as a needle-head."
The approval came in few hours after Majlis, Parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran had urged the government to speedily offer plan on reducing ties with IAEA.
The statement signed by 226 Parliament members stressed that the political will of certain big powers specially the US and Britain was the driving force behind the moves resulting in deviation of Iran's nuclear dossier from its normal path. The members criticized the resolution saying that it ignores the fact that the outgoing IAEA chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, had for the 21th time stressed the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities.
Further the statement by the members said while the US President, Barack Obama, boasted of changes in the US diplomacy, he not only failed to initiate any such changes but also had to change his own tone to continue the extreme policies adopted by his predecessor.
A few hours later, Chairman of the Expediency Council of Iran Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjan, Supreme leader of Iran addressing a group of university students said that the IAEA resolution on Iran was very 'cruel'.
"Iran has achieved its scientific position in the field of nuclear technology through relentless efforts and we should adopt an active and preventive policy in dealing with such behaviors at international arena," Rafsanjani said.
In a separate development, after the issue of this report, Irna or Islamic Republic News Agency said that
Both the sides expressed that the meeting was satisfactory and would help to bolster mutual cooperation in transportation, telecommunication, energy, commerce, economy and banking fields.
Russia had supported the IAEA resolution to censure Iran few days ago.
Majlis, in a separate development today allocated $20 million for a project which the Majlis expects to expose human rights violations by the US and Britain.
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