IRAN PRESS/NUCLEAR: DECEMBER 7: IRAN NEEDS 20 SITES, WON'T

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RPO DUBAI 000522 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: IR PGOV PREL PARM SUBJECT: IRAN PRESS/NUCLEAR: DECEMBER 7: IRAN NEEDS 20 SITES, WON'T LEAVE NPT DUBAI 00000522 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (U) Headlines: - Iraq Environment Minister Doesn't Want Nearby Nuclear Sites - Majlis'er Says Enemies Want Iran to Withdraw from NPT - Salehi: We Need 20 Enrichment Sites, Won't Withdraw From NPT ¶2. (U) IRAQ ENVIRONMENT MINISTER DOESN'T WANT NEARBY IRANIAN NUCLEAR SITES A December 16 'Baztab' piece compiled from an 'Al-Zaman' article says that Iraqi Environment Minister Narmeen Osman has said that: - if Iran sets up enrichment facilities within 70 kilometers of the Iraqi border, Iraq will "react appropriately." - She said Iraq has asked the IAEA to give it more information about the issue [Iran's enrichment facilities] so that Iraq knows what it has to do. - Iraq has put systems in Baghdad and Basra that measure atomic radiation from 'neighboring countries,' and if Iraq senses danger in this regard it will give the necessary warnings and take the necessary actions to protect Iraq's environment and its people. ¶3. (U) MAJLIS'ER SAYS ENEMIES WANT IRAN TO WITHDRAW FROM NPT On December 6 Iranian press quoted Majlis National Security Committee member Heshmat Fallahat Pisheh as saying that: - Iran's withdrawing from the NPT would be a step in a direction towards which Iran's enemies wish Iran to head. - Cooperation with the IAEA will prove the righteousness of Iran's nuclear program and Iran cannot destroy of proof of this cooperation by withdrawing from the NPT. - By stipulating a new deadline, the US has put Iran in a complicated position. Iran's goal in its nuclear program is to get needed fuel for the TRR and its other reactors, but America and Europe haven't given the necessary guarantees re providing this fuel. ¶4. (U) SALEHI: WE NEED 20 ENRICHMENT SITES, WON'T WITHDRAW FROM NPT AS WEST WISHES In a December 4th interview with PressTV, AEOI head Salehi said: - We are in need of 20 thousands megawatts that means 20 [times the amount the] Natanz [facility can produce]," DUBAI 00000522 002.2 OF 002 - "Now the government has decided to have ten sites with the same size as Natanz; of course when I say with the same size as Natanz it is concerning the amount of fuel that is produced and it is about thirty tonnes per year. Every site will be producing thirty tonnes per year which is enough for one nuclear power plant." - Salehi added that Tehran will not pull out of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). "I think the West is trying to force us out of the NPT because they have noticed that we are insistent about~heeding the NPT and this is not to the liking of the West." EYREAE