Western fears heighten amid new nuclear revelation

Iran has declared that it is constructing a second plant for uranium enrichment, as the International Atomic Energy Agency spokesman Marc Vidricaire confirmed on Friday. He said that on 21 September, Iran informed the Agency in a letter that a new pilot fuel enrichment plant is under construction in the country.

As Iran's declaration soon brought to light accusations of archenemies and their supporters against the Iranian Republic and its President of building a secret Nukes plant and of breaching International law, Western fears sky rocketed and reactions to this announcement are yet to come.

Media outlets have been publishing reactions since Friday. So what is the international media making of the latest Iran development?
Here are some reactions from different countries on Iran's revelation.

The US president Barack Obama urged the UN nuclear watchdog to thoroughly investigate the new plant, which, he said, was a "direct challenge" to international non-proliferation rules.

French President Sarkozy seconded Obama's stance and accused the Tehran government of taking the world down a "dangerous" path. He also threatened new sanctions if the leaders of Iran did not change course by December.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who echoed Obama and Sarkozy, said Iran's "serial deception of many years" in its nuclear work demanded a tougher action by the international community.

As for the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that if Iran does not cooperate at an October 1 meeting with world powers, then other methods should be used to deal with Tehran's nuclear program.
Medvedev said the new revelations were a "cause of concern" to all participants at a Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh and that the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, should launch an immediate investigation, he said in a statement.

However, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quick to respond to what appears to be an emerging united stance by the West toward Tehran's nuclear program and an international repercussion of the new revelation.

Ahmadinejad has rejected western accusations regarding Iran's newly disclosed nuclear facility, saying the plant is perfectly legal.
He said the country's second nuclear plant is not in breach of the IAEA rules adding that it is open for inspection by the agency.

"This does not mean we must inform Mr. Obama's administration of every facility that we have," he told "Times" in New York as Obama was speaking to reporters in Pittsburgh.

In addition, the Islamic republic's president told CNN's Larry King on Friday that President Obama's accusations that Iran's nuclear program runs afoul of international agreements are "baseless".

In addition, Ali-Akbar Salehi, Iran's nuclear chief said that Iran's second uranium enrichment plant, whose existence was made public on Friday, was not a secret.

"This installation is not a secret one, which is why we announced its existence to the IAEA," he told AFP.

According to the spokesman, the letter underlined that the enrichment level in the plant would only be up to 5 percent.

The UN nuclear watchdog in previous reports had confirmed that Iran -- in its first enrichment facility -- only managed to enrich uranium-235 to a level "less than 5 percent." And in order for Uranium- the fuel for a nuclear power plant- to be used for military purposes it should be enriched to high levels of above 90 percent. Therefore Iran poses no threats.

Not only that but also, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which Iran is a signatory, gives the country the right to the full nuclear fuel cycle if used for peaceful purposes.

As Iran's uranium enrichment has been the focus of protracted international debates over the country's nuclear program and is what the world fears might lead to producing bomb-grade material to use for military purposes, former US administrations, and even the current one, have always turned a blind eye to the fact that Tel Aviv owns the nuclear bomb in return for an Israeli commitment not to make any public procedure which shows that it has a nuclear weapon.