This is not a surprise for those who have been watching Iran’s actions and actually taking them at their word when they say such things like “Death to America” while sending lethal weapons into Iraq and Afghanistan, for starters. This latest move, in Iran’s continued quest for hegemony in the region and beyond, will probably only be a surprise to those who thought it was possible to negotiate with the largest state sponsor of terrorism. I am afraid time will show what a mistake it was for the leaders of the free world to not have helped the Iranian people in their brave fight for freedom from this totalitarian regime.

(CNN) — Iran’s Cabinet has authorized the construction of another 10 uranium enrichment plants, its state news agency announced Sunday, further defying international calls to halt its production of nuclear fuel.

The Iranian Cabinet approved existing plans for five more facilities similar to its current plant at Natanz and ordered planning for five more to begin, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The dispatch quoted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying that the new plants will be used to produce fuel for civilian nuclear power stations.

The move comes two days after the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, passed a resolution demanding that Iran stop construction on a previously secret nuclear facility at Qom.

The IAEA also repeated calls for Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program. The agency said it would not comment on Sunday’s announcement.

Keep reading.

More: Iran grants $20m. to terrorist groups

The text of the legislation says the money is to “support progressive currents that resist illegal activities by the governments of the US and Britain.” Iranian officials often use such terms to describe militant groups.

It was not immediately clear which groups would receive funding from Iran, but Teheran already backs the Islamic terrorists Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The bill also taps funds to “confront plots and unjust restrictions” by the Washington and London against Teheran and to disclose “human rights abuses by the two countries.”

Update: Iran says needs 20 nuclear sites: report

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said on Saturday it needed 20 uranium enrichment plants to provide fuel for its nuclear power plants, an announcement likely to heighten tension with six major powers over the Islamic state’s nuclear ambitions.

“To provide fuel for our nuclear power plants, we need to have 20 uranium enrichment plants,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, as saying.

In a defiant response to last week’s International Atomic Energy Agency vote rebuking Iran for building a second enrichment plant in secret, Tehran said on Sunday it would build 10 more sites like its Natanz underground one monitored by the
IAEA.

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