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Tuesday, March 15, 2005 12:55:16 AM
Iran: Nuke Program Needed for Electricity
Iran: Nuke Program Needed for Electricity
With Oil and Gas Reserves, Iran Says It Needs Nuclear Program to Generate Electricity
By TAREK AL-ISSAWI Associated Press Writer
Iran's President Mohammad Khatami waves at the end of a press conference and the conclusion of his visit to Venezuela, at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, 30 km (19 miles) from Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, March 12, 2005. Khatami arrived in Venezuela Thursday for a three-day visit aimed at strengthening political ties and signing accords to share technology, cooperate in oil and gas projects and open a joint-venture plant to build tractors.(AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch)
TEHRAN, Iran Mar 14, 2005 — Iran, accused by the United States of using a nuclear energy program as a front to produce weapons, has repeatedly said its program is for peaceful purposes only, and that it needs nuclear power to generate enough electricity to remain self-sufficient.
But the United States is disputing that claim, too, saying the Gulf nation does not need nuclear power for electricity because it has massive oil and gas reserves.
The issue is gaining new prominence as Iran gets set to host a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries this week.
In a region largely dependent on the West for vital military and industrial needs, energy-rich Iran has long stood out as a nearly self-sufficient nation that is exerting all its efforts to produce nuclear energy despite stiff resistance from the international community.
Iran's total recoverable oil reserves exceed 130 billion barrels, equal to 12 percent of the world's oil. It has an oil production capacity of 4.2 million barrels a day, making it the second biggest producer of oil in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia.
It has also discovered new oil fields in recent years, including a new field announced last week Ramin, which is said to hold 855 million barrels. The New Azadegan oil field in southwestern Iran has estimated reserves of 5 billion barrels.
The U.S.-based Energy Information Administration estimated that in 2003, Iran produced 3.9 million barrels of oil a day, exported 2.5 million of those and locally consumed 1.4 million. More recent numbers were unavailable.
In addition to its oil, Iran has gas reserves estimated at 28 trillion cubic meters, the second largest in the world after Russia, according to government estimates, and it consumes much of its gas production.
However, the country disputes the idea that those reserves mean it should not seek nuclear power.
"America has more oil than Iran, and Russia has more gas than Iran, and both of them have many nuclear power plants," said Asadollah Sabouri, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
"No country can deny Iran the advanced nuclear technology on the grounds that Iran is rich in oil and gas," he said.
Iran's Nuclear Energy Council has said the country must produce 7,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear power plants by 2021 to meet its increasing electricity demands. Iran's parliament has asked for the construction of 20 nuclear power plants.
The nation aims to become the economic powerhouse of western Asia during the next 20 years. Under a plan approved in 2003, Iran would be a regional superpower and a base for high technology and scientific know-how by 2025.
Iran accuses the West of seeking to deprive it of nuclear technology purely because it is an Islamic republic.
The country's former president, Hashemi Rafsanjani, told dozens of international nuclear scientists earlier this month that Washington and the Europeans had approved the building of 20 nuclear power plants in Iran and provide advanced nuclear technology when Tehran was under the pro-Western shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the 1970s.
But they reversed their positions after the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the shah and brought the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power.
On Saturday, Iran scoffed at U.S. incentives aimed at coaxing it to drop its nuclear ambitions. An Iranian envoy in Europe, however, acknowledged in guardedly positive terms that there appeared to be a "new awakening" in Washington.
Hossein Mousavian, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, has said that obtaining nuclear technology is one of the ways for a nation to develop technologically.
Also at stake, Iranian officials say, is national pride. They insist that no Iranian government would even contemplate abandoning the nuclear program, adding that such a move would be tantamount to political suicide.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Hasan Rowhani, said last month that he told the Europeans in very clear terms that any Iranian government accepting to give up nuclear technology will collapse immediately.
Despite being under U.S. sanctions since 1979, Iran has managed to mass produce conventional weapons, planes, tanks, vehicles, electrical appliances and machines, making it both self-sufficient and an exporter of a variety of products and goods worldwide.
Last month, Iran and Russia signed a nuclear fuel agreement, paving the way for the 1,000 megawatt Bushehr nuclear power plant to go online by mid-2006. The signing came despite strong U.S. objections.
While the Iranian public might be divided into pro-reform and conservative movements, and differences remain over political and civil liberties, the nuclear program is the one issue that unites them.
"Iran's success in obtaining nuclear technology doesn't know factional parties. It's national pride," said prominent political analyst Davoud Hermidas Bavand.
LINK: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=578438&page=3
Iran: Nuke Program Needed for Electricity
With Oil and Gas Reserves, Iran Says It Needs Nuclear Program to Generate Electricity
By TAREK AL-ISSAWI Associated Press Writer
Iran's President Mohammad Khatami waves at the end of a press conference and the conclusion of his visit to Venezuela, at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, 30 km (19 miles) from Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, March 12, 2005. Khatami arrived in Venezuela Thursday for a three-day visit aimed at strengthening political ties and signing accords to share technology, cooperate in oil and gas projects and open a joint-venture plant to build tractors.(AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch)
TEHRAN, Iran Mar 14, 2005 — Iran, accused by the United States of using a nuclear energy program as a front to produce weapons, has repeatedly said its program is for peaceful purposes only, and that it needs nuclear power to generate enough electricity to remain self-sufficient.
But the United States is disputing that claim, too, saying the Gulf nation does not need nuclear power for electricity because it has massive oil and gas reserves.
The issue is gaining new prominence as Iran gets set to host a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries this week.
In a region largely dependent on the West for vital military and industrial needs, energy-rich Iran has long stood out as a nearly self-sufficient nation that is exerting all its efforts to produce nuclear energy despite stiff resistance from the international community.
Iran's total recoverable oil reserves exceed 130 billion barrels, equal to 12 percent of the world's oil. It has an oil production capacity of 4.2 million barrels a day, making it the second biggest producer of oil in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia.
It has also discovered new oil fields in recent years, including a new field announced last week Ramin, which is said to hold 855 million barrels. The New Azadegan oil field in southwestern Iran has estimated reserves of 5 billion barrels.
The U.S.-based Energy Information Administration estimated that in 2003, Iran produced 3.9 million barrels of oil a day, exported 2.5 million of those and locally consumed 1.4 million. More recent numbers were unavailable.
In addition to its oil, Iran has gas reserves estimated at 28 trillion cubic meters, the second largest in the world after Russia, according to government estimates, and it consumes much of its gas production.
However, the country disputes the idea that those reserves mean it should not seek nuclear power.
"America has more oil than Iran, and Russia has more gas than Iran, and both of them have many nuclear power plants," said Asadollah Sabouri, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
"No country can deny Iran the advanced nuclear technology on the grounds that Iran is rich in oil and gas," he said.
Iran's Nuclear Energy Council has said the country must produce 7,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear power plants by 2021 to meet its increasing electricity demands. Iran's parliament has asked for the construction of 20 nuclear power plants.
The nation aims to become the economic powerhouse of western Asia during the next 20 years. Under a plan approved in 2003, Iran would be a regional superpower and a base for high technology and scientific know-how by 2025.
Iran accuses the West of seeking to deprive it of nuclear technology purely because it is an Islamic republic.
The country's former president, Hashemi Rafsanjani, told dozens of international nuclear scientists earlier this month that Washington and the Europeans had approved the building of 20 nuclear power plants in Iran and provide advanced nuclear technology when Tehran was under the pro-Western shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the 1970s.
But they reversed their positions after the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the shah and brought the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power.
On Saturday, Iran scoffed at U.S. incentives aimed at coaxing it to drop its nuclear ambitions. An Iranian envoy in Europe, however, acknowledged in guardedly positive terms that there appeared to be a "new awakening" in Washington.
Hossein Mousavian, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, has said that obtaining nuclear technology is one of the ways for a nation to develop technologically.
Also at stake, Iranian officials say, is national pride. They insist that no Iranian government would even contemplate abandoning the nuclear program, adding that such a move would be tantamount to political suicide.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Hasan Rowhani, said last month that he told the Europeans in very clear terms that any Iranian government accepting to give up nuclear technology will collapse immediately.
Despite being under U.S. sanctions since 1979, Iran has managed to mass produce conventional weapons, planes, tanks, vehicles, electrical appliances and machines, making it both self-sufficient and an exporter of a variety of products and goods worldwide.
Last month, Iran and Russia signed a nuclear fuel agreement, paving the way for the 1,000 megawatt Bushehr nuclear power plant to go online by mid-2006. The signing came despite strong U.S. objections.
While the Iranian public might be divided into pro-reform and conservative movements, and differences remain over political and civil liberties, the nuclear program is the one issue that unites them.
"Iran's success in obtaining nuclear technology doesn't know factional parties. It's national pride," said prominent political analyst Davoud Hermidas Bavand.
LINK: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=578438&page=3
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