Iran: ‘We Will Press Ahead With Uranium Enrichment Program’.

Iran: ‘We Will Press Ahead With Uranium Enrichment Program’.(IH).

Iran’s President-elect Hasan Rouhani called his victory in national elections this month a vote for change, and vowed on Shabbos to remain committed to his campaign promises of moderation and constructive interaction with the outside world.

However, Iran’s nuclear energy chief, Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, said at a nuclear energy conference in Saint Petersburg, Russia, over the weekend that Iran would press ahead with its uranium enrichment program, signaling no immediate change of course despite Rouhani’s election victory.

Speaking to reporters with the help of an interpreter, Abbasi-Davani said that production of nuclear fuel would “continue in line with our declared goals. The enrichment linked to fuel production will also not change.”

Abbasi-Davani said work at Iran’s underground Fordo plant — which the West wants Iran to close — would also continue. Iran refines uranium at Fordo to a level that is relatively close to the threshold needed for atom bombs.

Rouhani has already promised greater openness on the nuclear issue but believes it is possible to strike a deal that would allow the Islamic republic to keep enriching uranium while assuring the West it will not produce a nuclear weapon.

"People chose a new path ... People said in this election, 'We want change,'" Rouhani told a conference in Tehran Saturday. "The best language of the people is the ballot box. The people's vote is very obvious. There is no ambiguity."

Abbasi-Davani said Iran's only existing nuclear power plant -- which has suffered repeated delays -- had been "brought back online" three days ago and was working at 1,000-megawatt capacity. A U.N. nuclear agency report said in May that the Russian-built Bushehr plant had been shut down, giving no reason.

"Thankfully in recent days no concrete defects with the plant have been reported to me," Abbasi-Davani said. Asked whether there would be any change in Iranian policy after Rouhani's election and whether it could suspend 20 percent enrichment, Abbasi-Davani said Iran's nuclear program was aimed at producing electricity and medical isotopes only.

"In line with these two goals, of course the production of energy will not stop. We will of course continue our work at this center," he said. Fordo is under the monitoring of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, he said.

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday the nuclear stand-off could easily be resolved if the West would stop being so stubborn.

Abbasi-Davani also said Iran would soon give the Vienna-based IAEA a list of planned nuclear reactor sites.Read the full story here.