US warns Iran after fuel shipment

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7148926.stm

Last Updated: Monday, 17 December 2007, 20:53 GMT

US warns Iran after fuel shipment

Washington says Iran has no need to continue its own nuclear

programme now that Russia has started delivering fuel to the Bushehr

power plant.

But Tehran says it will not stop the uranium enrichment process

despite the threat of further UN sanctions.

It is the first time Iran has received a fuel delivery from Russia,

which is building the Bushehr plant.

Tehran insists it is pursuing peaceful power generation only, despite

fears it could try to build a bomb.

The arrival of the first Russian shipment came days after Moscow and

Tehran agreed on a schedule to finish building the Bushehr plant

after years of delays.

While the UN continues to demand that Iran halt uranium enrichment,

it has approved the Russian deliveries.

'Still a threat'

Confirming that Moscow had notified the US about the shipment,

President W Bush said the Russian shipment proved the Iranians

did " not need to learn how to enrich " uranium for themselves.

He said that Iran remained a " threat to peace " if its own enrichment,

a crucial step towards constructing nuclear weapons, was not stopped.

" They're heading down a path of isolation right now and economic

sanctions, " he added.

" We passed two resolutions out of the UN and [uS Secretary of State]

Condi Rice is working on a third. "

After a recent US intelligence report which found that Iran had

stopped an alleged nuclear weapons programme in 2003, Mr Bush said

Tehran could not be trusted.

" If somebody had a weapons programme, what's to say they couldn't

start it up tomorrow? " , he asked earlier this month.

" Since they tried to hide their programme before, how would we know? "

Shipments begin

Atomstroiexport, the Russian company building the Bushehr plant, said

the delivery of the enriched uranium fuel began on Sunday.

The final delivery, it said, would be made in February. Russian

officials said earlier that the plant could be operational within six

months of fuel being delivered.

Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's atomic energy agency, said the

plant would begin operating some time in the new year.

He stressed that nuclear enrichment work would not stop as a result

of the Russian deliveries, saying fuel was needed for a reactor under

construction in Darkhovin, south-west Iran.

Enriched uranium is used as fuel in nuclear power stations. When it

is more highly enriched, it can be used to make nuclear weapons.