by News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Estimates say Iran is two to
four months away from having enough material to produce a nuclear bomb.
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Photo credit: Reuters  |
Iran is believed to be increasing its uranium
enrichment capacity at its Fordo plant deep underground, Western
diplomats say. The move is another sign of Tehran defying international
demands to curb its disputed nuclear program.
But the diplomats said the Islamic republic
did not appear to have started up the newly installed centrifuges to
boost production of the fissile material for reactor fuel, which could
have military uses if further processed.
"Iran continues to build up enrichment capacity," one Western official said.
A diplomat accredited to the U.N.
International Atomic Energy Agency said: "We think that they have
continued installing centrifuges at Fordo. We think that their pace has
continued the same as it was, which was pretty rapid."
If confirmed in the next International Atomic
Energy Agency report on Iran's atomic activities, expected in
mid-November, this would suggest Iran is steadily moving towards
completing installation of centrifuges at the Fordo subterranean
centrifuge site.
The work may be "near complete," the Vienna-based diplomat said, in remarks echoed by another envoy.
There was no immediate comment from Iran or the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear agency, based in the Austrian capital.
Fordo, whose existence was only disclosed by
Tehran in 2009 after learning that Western spy services had detected it,
is of particular concern for the U.S. and its allies as Iran uses it
for its higher-grade enrichment.
Iran says it needs uranium refined to a
fissile concentration of 20 percent, compared with the level of up to 5%
it produces at its main enrichment facility at Natanz, to make fuel for
a medical research reactor in Tehran.
But it also takes Iran a significant technical
step closer to the 90% concentration needed for bombs, explaining the
West's growing concern about the Islamic state's stockpile of the
material.
The U.S.-based Institute for Science and
International Security think-tank said this month that Iran would need
at least two to four months to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for
one nuclear bomb, and additional time to make the device itself.
Last week, Iranian officials said Tehran would
negotiate on halting higher-grade enrichment if given fuel for the
research reactor, in a possible attempt to show flexibility in stalled
nuclear talks with world powers.
The IAEA said in its last report on Iran in
late August that the country had doubled the number of centrifuges to
2,140 at Fordo since the previous report in May. More than 600 remained
to be installed, the report showed.
Since then, diplomats said they thought Iran
had put in place more centrifuges at the site near the holy Shiite
Muslim city of Qom, about 130 km (80 miles) from Tehran and located deep
under soil and rock for protection against any attack.
"They continue sort of unabated," one envoy said.
But they said Iran was still operating the same number of machines as it has been since early this year, nearly 700 centrifuges.
It was not clear when the new equipment would
be launched or whether Iran was holding back for technical or political
reasons. It is also not known whether the centrifuges that are not yet
operating will be used for 5% or 20% enrichment, or both, the diplomats
say.
Any move by Iran to increase the number and
production rate of working centrifuges would be swiftly condemned by its
foes in the West and Israel and may further complicate diplomacy aimed
at resolving the dispute.
Iran says its nuclear program is a peaceful
project to generate electricity but its refusal to limit the work and
lack of transparency with U.N. inspectors have been met with
increasingly tough Western sanctions targeting its oil exports.
European Union governments imposed sanctions on Tuesday
against major Iranian state companies in the oil and gas industry, and
strengthened restrictions on the central bank, cranking up financial
pressure on Tehran.
News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=6123
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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