Washington: Stating that Iran's nuclear programme was a "matter of great concern," US has rejected Tehran's claim that it was pursuing a "nuke fuel cycle" only for power generation, and said the country had enough oil-gas supplies to meet its energy requirements.

"We completely reject Iran's claim that it is doing so (pursuing a nuclear fuel cycle for power generation) for peaceful purposes," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on March 10.

"After all, Iran has been in possession of a great amount of energy of a non-nuclear nature as a result of their gas and oil supplies," he said.

Iran, he said, attempted to construct a uranium enrichment plant and a heavy water plant in secret. The first could be used to produce highly enriched uranium for weapons, while the second could support a reactor for producing weapons-grade plutonium.

Iran admitted the existence of these facilities only when they had been made public by an Iranian Opposition group, Fleischer added.

"There is no economic justification for this, and it does remain a matter of great concern," he added.

Fleischer said despite the best efforts of the international community – in this case the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – to verify that they had a nuclear weapons programme, Iran was far ahead of where they were believed to be in its development.

This is a notable reflection on the abilities of international organisations to actually know what is happening on the ground when one nation decides to build nuclear programmes in secret, he said.

PTI