Iran Denies Media Claims on Deceleration of N. Activities

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran denied media reports and speculations that the country's nuclear activities have decelerated due to the imposition of the latest round of UN Security Council's sanctions against Tehran.
"Our nuclear activities are completely peaceful and their precise reports are sent to the officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), these activities are inspected by the IAEA cameras and they are well aware that these activities are moving on their normal track and have not decelerated at all," Mehman-Parast told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday.

He further underlined that reports alleging that Iran has slowed down its nuclear activities are part of enemies' propaganda against Tehran.

"Our nuclear activities are moving on their course and our long-term plans to use the peaceful nuclear technology in different fields, which certainly play a serious role in the development and progress of our country, are widely and comprehensive pursued," the spokesman reiterated.

Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.

Tehran has dismissed West's demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path.

Some western media outlets have several times alleged that Iran has stopped or reduced the pace of its nuclear activities due to a lack of technical know-how or West's cyber attack.

In a recent case reports by the western media claimed that Iran temporarily halted most of its uranium enrichment work in December and western diplomats said they believed the halt was linked to technical problems caused by Stuxnet software worm.

In response, the then president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi who is now the country's foreign minister, revealed that some western countries had started attempts to disrupt activities and operations at Iran's nuclear sites and plants via Stuxnet since a year before, but to no avail.

"Since a year ago, the westerners have tried to infiltrate our country's nuclear sites to open a way for their worm (Stuxnet worm) to disrupt their activities, but the country's young experts stopped the virus exactly at those points that enemies intended to infiltrate," Salehi stated.

The Stuxnet worm is the first known malicious software of its kind unleashed by computer hackers and has opened the door to a new era of cyber-warfare.

Experts say it is designed to destroy or sabotage factories, power plants, refineries or other industrial installations.