Iran stepping-up uranium enrichment at secret site: IAEA

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Iran has significantly stepped-up uranium enrichment at a secret facility, the UN atomic watchdog has said, emphasising that Tehran needs to address ‘serious concerns’ about ‘possible military dimensions’ to its nuclear programme.

The latest report by experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) disclosed a 42 per cent rise in the number of operational centrifuges enriching uranium inside the Natanz facility, located in central Iran, in the last four months.

Work inside a second, previously secret enrichment plant has also been stepped up, with 698 centrifuges operating inside the Fordow installation near Qom, southwest of Tehran, a 69 per cent increase on the number recorded during the last inspection in October, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Iran had declined to offer full co-operation to its inspectors when they visited the country earlier this month, the UN atomic watchdog said yesterday. In particular, they were prevented from visiting a military location at Parchin, where experiments that would only be relevant to mastering the detonation system of nuclear weapons are understood to have been conducted.

The watchdog bemoaned ‘major differences’ with Iran after two fruitless visits, the paper said. The latest report by the IAEA is likely to deepen Israel's fears about Iran's intentions, particularly the build-up of centrifuges in the Fordow facility, which is dug into a mountainside and could be immune from military attack.

The IAEA reported that 8,808 centrifuges were functioning inside Natanz, compared with 6,208 on its last visit, although the report cautioned that not all of the machines may have been working. Iran's experts had also installed the casings for another 6,177 centrifuges, it said.

Six UN resolutions say that Iran should stop enriching uranium, a highly sensitive process that could be used to make the essential material for a nuclear weapon. This sudden rise in the number of operational centrifuges shows that, on the contrary, Iran is stepping up its enrichment capacity.

"As Iran is not providing the necessary co-operation, including by not implementing its additional protocol, the agency is unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities," the report was quoted by the daily as saying.

However, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin said that Western concern about Iran's nuclear ambitions was a cover for the real objective of toppling the Tehran regime.