TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's nuclear chief said Tuesday that the country's new uranium enrichment site - carved into a mountain and near a military compound of the powerful Revolutionary Guard - was built for maximum protection from aerial attack.
Iran's revelation that it covertly built a second uranium enrichment plant has raised international concerns that other secret nuclear sites might exist as well.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that Iran's construction of the Qom facility violates U.N. resolutions requiring greater candor about its atomic activities, adding that Tehran must prove to the world that it has no intention of developing nuclear weapons.
Ali Akbar Salehi, who is vice president and head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, spoke at a news conference that touched on sensitive military and nuclear issues rarely discussed publicly in Iran. The news conference followed international dismay over the nuclear site and a new round of missile tests this week.
"This site is at the base of a mountain and was selected on purpose in a place that would be protected against aerial attack. That's why the site was chosen adjacent to a military site," Salehi said.
"It was intended to safeguard our nuclear facilities and reduce the cost of an active defense system. If we had chosen another site, we would have had to set up another aerial defense system."
He said Iran is willing to have a general discussion about nuclear technology when it meets Thursday in Geneva with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany. But he insisted that Iran will not give up its "right" to uranium enrichment, which produces fuel that can be used for nuclear energy or nuclear weapons.
"We will never bargain over our sovereign right," said Salehi.
The U.S. and its allies have demanded that Iran come clean on all its nuclear activities or face harsher international sanctions. President Barack Obama's administration is planning to push for new sanctions targeting Iran's energy, financial and telecommunications sectors if it does not comply with international demands, according to U.S. officials.
Ban, the U.N. chief, said he outlined his concerns about the Qom facility in a faceto-face meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday and that he would press the same message in talks today with Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki.
"The burden of proof is on their side," Ban said. "This new Iranian enrichment facility is contrary to the Security Council resolution. ... They should give full access to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] - this is what I told him."
The Iranian government released a statement Tuesday saying that Ahmadinejad had criticized Ban during the meeting for parroting Western allegations against Iran without waiting for the nuclear watchdog to issue a formal judgment on Iran's behavior.
Hard-line Iranian lawmaker Mohammad Karami Rad threatened Tuesday that Iran might pull out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty if the U.S. and its allies pressure Iran during the Geneva talks, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Iranian officials have dismissed such calls to pull out in the past, saying the country will remain committed to its obligations.
HOPE FOR TALKS
The Obama administration indicated Tuesday that it does not intend to swiftly press for stiffer economic sanctions.
In advance of the Geneva talks, the State Department stressed its hope that the session would open the door to more in-depth dialogue about ways Iran could alleviate concerns that its emerging nuclear program may be secretly developing nuclear weapons.
If Iran is willing to address the nuclear issues, then there likely will be subsequent meetings, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
"That process will take some time," Crowley said. "We're not going to make a snap judgment on Thursday. We're going to see how that meeting goes, evaluate the willingness of Iran to engage on these issues."
Crowley noted that Obama has said he intends to take a few months to assess Iran's position and consult with U.S. negotiating partners before deciding what next steps to take.
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate banking committee, said Tuesday that he will push legislation to expand Obama's authority to sanction Iran, with a focus on a range of financial institutions and businesses. Dodd said his bill also would extend U.S. sanctions to oil and gas pipelines, and tankers.
In what could be interpreted as a gesture linked to the Geneva talks, Iran on Tuesday permitted Swiss diplomats to visit three Americans who have been detained at an undisclosed location since crossing into Iran from Iraq in late July. Iran said they were arrested for illegal entry.
Swiss diplomats made the visit with the three Americans because the U.S. has no diplomatic presence in Iran. Swiss officials confirmed the visit but provided no information about the condition of the Americans.
MORE SITES?
Salehi reiterated that Iran is in talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency to set a timetable soon for an inspection of the Qom site. He said the country did not feel bound by a U.S. demand to allow an inspection within a month.
The nuclear facility, named Meshkat, or Lantern, is next to a military compound of the Revolutionary Guard, Iran's most powerful military force, equipped with an air-defense system, Salehi said.
"This is a contingency plant. It is one of the preemptive measures aimed at protecting our nuclear technology and human work force. It is a small version of Natanz," he said, referring to Iran's other nuclear facility incentral Iran.
"This is to show that the Islamic Republic of Iran won't allow its nuclear activities to stop under any circumstances even for a moment."
The revelations have raised questions about whether the plant was the only site going unreported.
"You only need to ask yourself if you were the manager of the Iranian nuclear program, how likely is it that you would put all your nuclear eggs in one basket?" asked Graham Allison, an assistant secretary of defense in the Clinton administration and now director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.
"My expectation is that over the months ahead, Iran will either be found out to have a number of other sites or Iran may even announce that it has a number of other sites," he said.
A Western diplomat whose country is on the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board and who has access to intelligence on Iran's nuclear activities,said there was no evidence of other secret sites. But if Iran's intention had been to keep the enrichment plant secret, it would be logical to build a related site nearby, feeding it nuclear material.
Salehi said Tuesday that the new site is about 60 miles south of Tehran on the road leading to Qom, placing it in the same location as satellite imagery showing a well-fortified facility built into a mountain about 20 miles northeast of Qom.
Information for this article was contributed by Robert Burns, Amy Teibel and Matthew Lee of The Associated Press and by Colum Lynch of The Washington Post.
Front Section, Pages 1, 3 on 09/30/2009