Iranian nukes

TEHRAN, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Iran said it is being forced to expand its nuclear program due to international criticism of Tehran's secret nuclear facility.

That the United Nations asked Tehran to stop work on a previously unpublicized facility prompted Iranian leaders to say they plan to build 10 additional uranium enrichment sites.

Iran, which has been routinely criticized for a lack of full disclosure to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the move was because "the West doesn't want to understand Iran's peaceful message."

Tehran says its nuclear program has peaceful uses as its end but many other countries are of the opinion Iran is working to become a nuclear weapons power. One of those has been France, whose Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Iran was being "a bit childish," that Tehran's announcement had "no coherence" and "Iran is playing an extremely dangerous game."

Iran was rebuked Friday by the IAEA for a lack of transparency related to a second refinement facility, which Tehran disclosed in September only after Western countries said they were going public about the previously secret plant's existence.