Tehran - Iran is still open to diplomacy despite the latest tensions over the nuclear dispute, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Monday. "There is still room for diplomacy so that Iran goes ahead (with its nuclear programmes) under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and within international regulations," the speaker said at a press conference in Tehran.
"But the world powers are free to adopt other policies, and then we will adopt other policies, as well," said Larijani, who was the chief nuclear negotiator from 2005 to 2007.
The Vienna-based IAEA on Friday adopted a resolution censuring Iran for secretly building a new nuclear enrichment plant at Fordo near the capital, Tehran.
"The Fordo plant is not even ready and already inspected by the IAEA - therefore this resolution against Iran can only be classified as political adventurism," the speaker said.
The parliament on Sunday issued a statement condemning the IAEA resolution and calling on the government to restrict cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
Larijani said the "carrot-and-stick" policies of the world powers, which he described as "political cheating," would not work anymore.
In a first governmental reaction to the resolution, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday ordered the country's atomic energy agency to build 10 more uranium-enrichment sites.
Upon the presidential order, construction of five of the sites at existing locations should start within the next two months, and suitable locations be found for the remaining five.
Ahmadinejad said the country's development goals require the gradual addition of 20,000 megawatts of electricity to the grid, and that 500,000 new centrifuges - preferably new devices with a higher speed - to become operational in at least 10 new uranium enrichment sites.
