New York/Vienna - UN Security Council members on Friday
said a new UN report offered proof that Iran is seeking nuclear
weapons, while some raised the spectre of Iran being able to produce
an atomic bomb with the amount of enriched uranium it has.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna said in an
updated report late Thursday that the Tehran regime has underreported
by a third the extent of its enrichment activities.
The IAEA said Iran has produced 1,110 kilogrammes of low-enriched
uranium. Non-proliferation experts estimate that 1,000 to 1,700
kilogrammes are theoretically needed for use in an atomic weapon,
although the material would have to be further enriched.
British Ambassador John Sawers said the report showed that Iran
was making advances in mastering its capability to enrich uranium for
military use.
'What we do have is proof that it is not for civilian purposes
because Iran has only one civilian nuclear power station run
with nuclear fuel provided by Russia,' Sawers said. 'So what is the
purpose of producing enriched uranium if not to stock it for other
purposes?'
Envoys from Japan and France said the 15-nation council is
concerned by the new findings and would have to tackle the new
situation with Iran.
'They are going on with the programme and not complying anymore
with the IAEA's rules,' French Ambassador Jean Maurice Ripert said at
UN headquarters in New York. 'We will have to deal with it.'
In three rounds of sanctions, the Security Council has demanded
that Iran end its uranium enrichment programme, end the construction
of a heavy-water reactor and allow IAEA inspectors in there.
In Vienna, diplomats close to the IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog,
said that the finding has been blown out of proportion. They pointed
out that the low enriched uranium that Iran has would have to be
refined even more.
'This is theoretical and this is dependent on several variables.
They would have to throw out the inspectors and leave the NPT
(Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty),' one senior diplomat told
Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
'In my view, it was quite hyped in the media,' another diplomat
said.
The United States said the IAEA's report reinforced doubts that
Iran's intentions are purely peaceful, and that time was of the
essence in forcing Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
But the White House would not comment specifically on the
allegations that Iran had enough fissile material to produce a
nuclear bomb.
'This White House understands that, working with our allies, that
this is a problem that has to be addressed and that we can't delay
addressing it,' White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Iran insists it is using its enrichment programme only to supply
domestic power reactors with fuel.
The report was released to IAEA member states amid recent signs
from US President Barack Obama that the two countries might be
interested in ending three decades of political estrangement and
resume direct talks on Iran's nuclear programmes, along with topics
such as the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that his
country would not suspend its controversial nuclear-enrichment
programme for the sake of improving ties with the United States.
The IAEA report released Thursday also showed that Iran has slowed
the expansion of its uranium-enrichment programme, but the country
still is not cooperating fully.
The report by IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei stated that since last
November only 164 additional centrifuges have started producing low-
enriched uranium. Currently, 3,936 such machines are operating, the
report said.
The IAEA has received intelligence from several member states
indicating that past research into high explosives, missile design
and uranium metal could have been geared toward nuclear weapons work.
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