New Iran uranium enrichment site raises concerns
Sunday, 27 September 2009
VIENNA, Sept 26 (AP): Iran's newly revealed uranium enrichment plant is a heavily guarded, still-unfinished underground facility in the arid mountains near the holy city of Qom that will be able to produce nuclear fuel - or the payload for atomic warheads, Western intelligence officials and diplomats said Friday.
The revelation suggests a network of facilities, including ones with centrifuges that would enrich uranium at much higher speed and efficiency than previously known sites.
Iran's secrecy has heightened suspicions that the new site might have been meant to produce weapons-grade uranium while UN monitors were focused elsewhere - concentrating on known facilities to ensure that Tehran produces only low-enriched uranium that cannot be used for weapons.
Iran says its facilities are producing nuclear fuel for power plants, not for weapons.
The head of Iran's nuclear programme, Ali Akbar Salehi, called the new facility "a semi-industrial plant for enriching nuclear fuel" that is not yet complete, according to the state news agency IRNA. He suggested that UN inspectors would be able to visit the site.
Neither Iran nor the International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed the facility's location or size. Western diplomats and government officials with access to intelligence provided the details on the plant, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the sensitive information.
The US has known of the facility's existence for several years through intelligence developed by US, French and British agencies, a senior White House official said.
Western intelligence locates the plant not far from Qom - one of the holiest cities in Shiite Islam, and any military strike near that city would likely provoke a backlash among Shiite Muslims across the Middle East.
US intelligence believes the facility is on a military base controlled by the Revolutionary Guards, according to a document the Obama administration sent to US lawmakers. It was provided to the news agency by an official on condition of anonymity because, though unclassified, it was deemed confidential.
A senior US administration official, who demanded anonymity for discussing intelligence, described it as "a very heavily protected, very heavily disguised facility."
The military connection could undermine Iran's contention that the plant was designed for civilian purposes.
At the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Pittsburgh, President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain declared that the secret nuclear facility puts new pressure on Tehran to quickly disclose all its nuclear efforts - including any moves toward weapons development - "or be held accountable."
The revelation suggests a network of facilities, including ones with centrifuges that would enrich uranium at much higher speed and efficiency than previously known sites.
Iran's secrecy has heightened suspicions that the new site might have been meant to produce weapons-grade uranium while UN monitors were focused elsewhere - concentrating on known facilities to ensure that Tehran produces only low-enriched uranium that cannot be used for weapons.
Iran says its facilities are producing nuclear fuel for power plants, not for weapons.
The head of Iran's nuclear programme, Ali Akbar Salehi, called the new facility "a semi-industrial plant for enriching nuclear fuel" that is not yet complete, according to the state news agency IRNA. He suggested that UN inspectors would be able to visit the site.
Neither Iran nor the International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed the facility's location or size. Western diplomats and government officials with access to intelligence provided the details on the plant, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the sensitive information.
The US has known of the facility's existence for several years through intelligence developed by US, French and British agencies, a senior White House official said.
Western intelligence locates the plant not far from Qom - one of the holiest cities in Shiite Islam, and any military strike near that city would likely provoke a backlash among Shiite Muslims across the Middle East.
US intelligence believes the facility is on a military base controlled by the Revolutionary Guards, according to a document the Obama administration sent to US lawmakers. It was provided to the news agency by an official on condition of anonymity because, though unclassified, it was deemed confidential.
A senior US administration official, who demanded anonymity for discussing intelligence, described it as "a very heavily protected, very heavily disguised facility."
The military connection could undermine Iran's contention that the plant was designed for civilian purposes.
At the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Pittsburgh, President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain declared that the secret nuclear facility puts new pressure on Tehran to quickly disclose all its nuclear efforts - including any moves toward weapons development - "or be held accountable."