UN rebuke prompted our new nuke plans: Iran

Iran had no intention of building 10 new nuclear facilities until it was strongly rebuked by the UN nuclear watchdog over its nuclear activities.

Iran had no intention of building 10 new nuclear facilities until it was strongly rebuked by the UN nuclear watchdog over its nuclear activities,a top official said on Monday.

Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi told state radio that Iran needed to give a strong response to the International Atomic Energy Agencys resolution Friday demanding that Iran halt to construction of its newly revealed uranium enrichment facility and end all other enrichment activities.

A Cabinet meeting headed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday approved plans to build 10 industrial scale uranium enrichment facilities,a 10-fold expansion of the nuclear program that will likely significantly heighten tensions with the West.

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The US and its allies fear the facilities give Iran the capability to produce weapons-grade nuclear material and have called for an immediate halt to Irans enrichment of uranium.

Iran has rejected such claims,saying its uranium enrichment facilities will only produce fuel for nuclear reactors to generate electricity.

The Cabinet ordered the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to begin building new facilities at five sites that have already been studied and propose five other locations for future construction within two months.