Iran to continue enriching uranium: Rafsanjani

Iran will continue to enrich uranium, influential former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Monday, as concerns grow over possible US military action against Tehran's nuclear programme.

Iran announced last week it had enriched uranium for use in its power stations, stoking a diplomatic row with the West which suspects Tehran is trying to build an atomic bomb. Iran says it is seeking nuclear power to generate electricity.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran does not intend to stop," Rafsanjani told reporters in Kuwait in answer to a question about uranium production.

"The Islamic Republic wants to continue along its path," he said during a visit to the Gulf state.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says it cannot verify Iran's nuclear programme is entirely peaceful despite three years of probing but it has found no hard proof of efforts to build atomic weapons.

A team of IAEA inspectors would travel to Iran "within two days to try to remove ambiguities on Iran's nuclear issue" as agreed with IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei, said Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency, quoting an Iranian diplomat.

First Published: Apr 17, 2006 23:35 IST