Iran allows IAEA to supervise new uranium plant

Iran's nuclear chief said on Saturday that Tehran will put its newly disclosed uranium enrichment plant under the supervision of the United Nations atomic watchdog as Israel said Tehran was seeking nuclear weapons and demanded an "unequivocal" Western response.

"This site will be under the supervision of the IAEA and will have a maximum of five percent (uranium) enrichment capacity," Ali Akbar Salehi said on state television, adding the plant is "not an industrial scale" unit.

He said the plant is being set up as a "precautionary measure in case of an unwanted incident against our nuclear program."

Salehi said Iran's nuclear installations are facing "threats every day" and so Tehran "had to take measures to disperse its installations."

Earlier on Saturday Salehi said Tehran will fix a date for IAEA inspectors to visit the new plant, located south of the capital.

"As the president said, we have no problem for inspection within the framework of the agency regulations," Salehi said, in an earlier appearance on state television.

Salehi said the new plant is located on the road between Tehran and the holy city of Qom.

Western outcry

Salehi denounced the outcry by Western leaders over the disclosure of the new plant.

"Westerners want to use this case to put more pressure on Iran, but hopefully this plot will fail." he said.

Tehran's announcement came a day after the leaders of Britain and France stood by American President Barack Obama as he accused the Islamic Republic of building a secret nuclear plant and "breaking rules that all nations must follow."

Iran's press widely reported the building of the country's second uranium enrichment plant as the front-page of a government-run newspaper read: "A new victorious step taken in the nuclear domain."

Hardline daily Javan also carried a banner headline saying the plant was "Iran's new card on the brink of nuclear talks."

Meanwhile Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps said it will begin missile war games from Sunday in a bid to "maintain and improve" the deterrent ability of the country's armed forces.

"The air force wing of the Revolutionary Guards will begin tomorrow the defense-missile maneuver titled Great Prophet four... with the aim of ... maintaining and improving the deterrent capability of the armed forces," the Guards said in a statement carried by ISNA and Fars news agencies.

Ousting "mad regime"

But none of the newspapers, conservative or otherwise, editorialized on the development, which Israel said is the latest proof of Iran's sustained defiance over its controversial nuclear program.

"The revelations of this second nuclear enrichment site in Iran prove beyond any doubt that this country wants to equip itself with nuclear weapons," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told public radio.

"We hope that an unequivocal answer is given on Oct. 1," he added, referring to next week's meeting between Iran and six major world powers involved in negotiations.

"We are not surprised by the recent revelations, because we have been saying that Iran is developing its nuclear activities for military purposes, and the facts prove it now," Lieberman said.

"Without wasting time, we must work towards the overthrow of the mad regime of Tehran," he added.

Israel is the Middle East's sole undeclared nuclear-armed state.

Without wasting time, we must work towards the overthrow of the mad regime of Tehran

Israeli FM