Tehran – Tens of thousands of flag-waving Iranians converged on Azadi Square on Sunday to voice support for Iran’s bid for nuclear energy, as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed to press forward with the country’s uranium-enrichment program.
“When we suspend our activities, they will never let us resume them,” the president told a crowd of cheering, chanting supporters who alternately sang patriotic anthems and burned Uncle Sam-hatted effigies of President Bush.
In his hour-long speech on the 28th anniversary of the Islamic revolution, when crowds each year assemble to commemorate the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, it was expected that Ahmadinejad would announce progress on Iran’s uranium-enrichment program.
But while Iran is said to be in the beginning stages of installing industrial-scale uranium-enrichment centrifuges at an underground site at Natanz, Ahmadinejad disclosed no advancements Sunday. Western nonproliferation specialists say the startup has been hindered by technical problems, including difficulties operating the above-ground test centrifuges.
Iran has hinted that it may try to set up much more advanced centrifuges than those being installed at Natanz, but there was no announcement of that. Ahmadinejad hinted that reports of new technological gains of an unspecified nature would come before April 9.
Iranian officials have asserted a right to develop a civilian nuclear-power program, but the United States and other leading Western nations believe Iran is working on constructing a nuclear weapon.
For all the flag-waving, fist-clenching and chants of “Death to America,” the crowd seemed somewhat subdued, as did the president.
Hundreds wandered off in the middle of Ahmadinejad’s speech, and the subtext to the president’s address was that Iran intends to cooperate and is prepared for talks if the U.S. does not unilaterally set the terms. He said Iran was committed to continuing full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, including access by inspectors to Iran’s nuclear sites.
