TEHRAN, July 6 (UPI) -- Officials in Iran said the country's first nuclear plant will go on line soon.
The officials said the Bushehr plant will start generating electricity shortly after it's completed in September, the Fars News Agency reported.
A leading Iranian cleric Friday told thousands of worshipers nuclear energy is part of Iranian culture and will never be abandoned.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran would never retreat from demanding its absolute nuclear right, because the nuclear issue is a national project," Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani said in a sermon at Tehran University, IRNA reported.
Iran has defied international demands that it abandon its uranium enrichment program, which the United States and other nations suspect is aimed at creating weapons, not power.
"We do not care about your obligations and prohibitions, and you had better heed the world nations' strong protest, displayed in rallies against your conduct," Emami-Kashani said.
