Defying U.N., Iran Opens Nuclear Reactor

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060826/D8JO3EQ00.html

KHONDAB, Iran (AP) - An Iranian plant that produces heavy water officially went into operation on Saturday, despite U.N. demands that Tehran stop the activity because it can be used to develop a nuclear bomb.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the plant, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes.

The announcement comes days before Thursday's U.N. deadline for Iran to stop uranium enrichment - which also can be used to create nuclear weapons - or face economic and political sanctions. Tehran has called the U.N. Security Council resolution "illegal" and said it won't stop enrichment as a precondition to negotiations.

Mohammed Saeedi, the deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the heavy water plant is "one of the biggest nuclear projects" in the country, state-run television reported. He said the plant will be used in the pharmaceutical field and in diagnosing cancer.

<more>

Every permanent member of the UNSC posesses a nuclear arsenal. Well, I'm not sure about France, but we all know they are a world leader in nuclear power. Why in the hell would any country listen to a bunch of nuclear powers telling them they aren't allowed to run a reactor, for peaceful purposes or otherwise?

I'd flip them all off, too.

They operated IRBM's and nuclear strike aircraft during the Cold War and still operate SLBMs today.

They also carry out nuclear testing in the Pacific.

French commandos bombed and sank the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland (NZ) harbor, killing a Greenpeace member who was planning to protest French nuclear testing in Polynesia.

Anti-environmentalist terrorism anyone????