Iran will continue to enrich uranium despite the UN nuclear watchdog's call to halt the Islamic Republic's controversial nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said on Sunday.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), presented a new report on Iran's nuclear research on Monday, saying Iran's alleged studies into making nuclear warheads remain a matter of serious concern, and that Tehran must provide more information on its "missile-related activities".

In his report, ElBaradei said that Iran continued its uranium enrichment despite the UN Security Council's resolutions calling for a halt to these activities.

However, the Iranian diplomat said that uranium enrichment was Iran's inalienable right and any attempts to terminate it contradicted the UN Charter.

Iran has so far defied three rounds of relatively mild United Nations Security Council sanctions over its nuclear program. Many Western nations suspect that the Islamic Republic is using the program as cover to build a nuclear weapon. Tehran insists however that it needs the nuclear program for electric power generation.

RIA Novosti


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