President Ahmadinejad said in a speech at Iran's main nuclear site that the country was now producing enriched nuclear fuel "on an industrial scale".
WASHINGTON: Iran's defiant announcement on Monday that it had expanded its nuclear enrichment programme proves that UN sanctions against Tehran were justified, the State Department spokesman said.
Spokesman Sean McCormack called a speech in which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Islamic republic would defend its atomic program "to the end" a "missed opportunity" by the increasingly isolated regime in Tehran.
Ahmadinejad also said in a speech at Iran's main nuclear site that the country was now producing enriched nuclear fuel "on an industrial scale" in defiance of UN demands it suspend the program, which the West fears is ultimately aimed at producing nuclear arms.
"It's quite clear that this is in defiance of the international community's calls for Iran to suspend its enrichment-related activities and to enter into negotiations," McCormack told reporters.
"It points to the idea that the actions that we are taking in concert with members of the Security Council are the right ones to take, that they're legitimate based on Iran's behavior," he said.
"The speech today only further justifies the action that the Security Council has taken," he said.
Iran insists its nuclear reprocessing work is designed only to provide fuel for a civilian nuclear power industry.
But McCormack countered that the United States and its major partners had offered to help Iran develop a peaceful nuclear power program if it will heed UN demands for a suspension of its uranium enrichment.
"It's a missed opportunity," he said of Ahmadinejad's speech.
"He could have come out today and said that Iran would engage in negotiations, that it would suspend its enrichment-related activity and Iran could realize what it says it wants to achieve, and that is a peaceful nuclear energy program," he said. McCormack declined to comment on a separate statement by Iran's lead nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, threatening to pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if Iran is subjected to further international pressure.
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