ascoupsutr

Iran said on Sunday it has found enough uranium in its own mines to get around a United Nations ban on uranium ore imports that was meant to prevent the Islamic nation from going forward with its nuclear program.

Iran made its claim a day before a new round of nuclear talks with world powers that want to rein in Iran’s uranium enrichment — a process that can be used either to make fuel for energy or atomic bombs.

“No matter how much effort they put into their sanctions … our nuclear activities will proceed and they will witness greater achievements in the future,” nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said on state-run Press TV.

The White House said it was aware Iran has been trying to develop domestically the ore known as “yellowcake” and hoped Iran would go into talks set to start today in Geneva “with the seriousness of purpose” needed to address “international concerns” over its nuclear program.

“Given that Iran’s own supply of uranium is not enough for a peaceful nuclear energy program, this calls into further question Iran’s intentions and raises additional concerns,” said Mike Hammer, spokesman for the National Security Council.

Iran’s rulers have flouted several U.N. Security Council resolutions against their program, which the West alleges is for making bombs, not energy. Iran has the fourth-largest oil reserves in the world.

In 2009, Western nations claimed Iran was running out of raw uranium it imported before sanctions were imposed.

“This demonstrates that the diplomatic approach has been a waste of time,” former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said. “It’s done nothing but give Iran time it needs to perfect its nuclear weapons program.”

Bolton, speaking on Fox News, criticized the U.S. State Department as the “What, me worry?” crowd and said that neither negotiations nor more sanctions would prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb.

Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and Iran’s vice president, said the yellowcake was produced at the Gachin uranium mine in southern Iran and delivered to the uranium conversion facility in Isfahan for reprocessing. He said a bigger uranium mine at Saghand, in central Iran, will be inaugurated “in the not-too-distant future.”

The Gachin uranium mill processes ore from a nearby mine into yellowcake. The processing is part of the early stages before actual enrichment of uranium. Yellowcake is then taken to the Isfahan facility to be processed into uranium hexafluoride, which later can be turned into a gas used as feedstock for enriching uranium.

Uranium enriched to low grades is used for fuel in nuclear reactors, but further enrichment makes it suitable for atomic bombs.

Salehi did not provide details on how much yellowcake had been transferred to Isfahan, but said the shipments, for now, would be carried out “continuously.”

Press TV showed a large, covered truck carrying the yellowcake.