IRAN CAPABLE OF BUILDING 30 ATOMIC BOMB A YEAR: STUDY

TEHRAN, 14 Feb. (IPS) The Islamic Republic of Iran revealed on Saturday that it has produced nuclear fuel and proposed to offer some of it on the international market.

“As a country which has potentials on producing nuclear fuel, the Islamic Republic is ready to offer its produced fuel to international markets", Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Kamal Kharrazi was quoted by the official news agency |IRNA as having said on his arrival to Tehran, coming from Vatican.

In a study to be published next month, David Albright, the leading US nuclear analyst, says that Iran has still not answered key questions about its nuclear activities. "Between 1993 and 1995, Iran received through middlemen enough components to build 500 centrifuges", he writes. "As of late January 2004, the manufacturer of these components has not been publicly identified. Iran appears so far to be protecting the supplier of these components."

Once in full swing, Mr Albright predicts, the Iranian centrifuges could be producing 500kg of weapons-grade uranium, or enough for up to 30 nuclear weapons a year.

Mr. Kharrazi’s declaration caught analysts and experts by surprise, not knowing he was serious or was just challenging the United States ahead of a new round of dispute with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over Iran’s hidden uranium enriching activities.

Diplomats speaking on conditions of anonymity told the Financial Times of London that international nuclear inspectors have found new evidences that the Islamic Republic was continuing the controversial activities despite pledges to Britain, France and Germany to suspend them.

“The new findings would be addressed by Dr. Mohammad el-Brade’i, the IAEA’s Director in his report to the next meeting of the Agency’s Board of Directors”, one diplomat said, adding he expects that the European Union’s Big 3 pushes Tehran for proving that it had honoured its engagements, signed on 21 October, undertaking officially to suspend uranium enriching programs and sign the Additional Protocol to the Non Proliferation Treaty.

The United States has been saying for nearly a year that Iran's long history of concealing the full extent of its atomic program was a violation of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

But experts say the state of Iran's capacity to produce its own nuclear fuel, let alone export it, is considerably limited to the point that it had to import from Russia the fuel needed for the nuclear-powered electrical plant the Russians are building at the Persian Gulf of Booshehr.

Iran acknowledged only last year that it was beginning to enrich uranium with components bought on the black market or from countries it did not named.

But recent investigation in Pakistan showed Iran was one of the main beneficiaries from Dr. Abdol Qadeer Khan, the disgraced Pakistani atomic scientist who sold plans and ageing equipments for enriching uranium to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

The United States has been saying for nearly a year that Iran's long history of concealing the full extent of its atomic program was a violation of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

“Iran will answer all remaining questions with full transparency and has no plan to produce nuclear weapons as it has announced several times before”, Kharrazi said, commenting on renewed American and Western accusations that it is accelerating its atomic programs aimed at developing its own atomic weapons.

He stressed Iran’s policy of “transparency and continuation of cooperation” with the IAEA and said examining issues between Iran and the IAEA is “on the agenda”.

But Western diplomats in Vienna told the British news agency Reuters on Thursday that the IAEA had uncovered designs for a centrifuge that should have been mentioned in Iran's October declaration.

They said the drawings showed Tehran had not complied with a demand from the IAEA governing board that it provide a full and truthful account of its entire nuclear program, Reuters added.

"This is a very serious matter", said one envoy. Asked if he thought it could be serious enough for Washington to revisit the idea of reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council, the diplomat said he did.

The diplomats said Washington might renew its push to report Iran to the Council after revelations that it failed to declare drawings for an advanced uranium-enrichment centrifuge that can be used to produce material for weapons.

Pointing to recent remarks by US officials on Iran’s nuclear activities, the Minister said, "The United States follows its own goals and as the previous stage, it intends to put the (International Atomic Energy) Agency and its Governing Council under new pressures".

“Iran’s internal affairs may prepare grounds for new US interventions but what is important is the people’s resistance, Mr. Kharrazi went on, adding that the Iranian people will not compromise with any country on its national interest.

The United States again accused Iran of hiding its nuclear activities from the international community and made clear on Friday it would give Iran more time to disclose its nuclear programs before deciding whether to refer the issue to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions.

"We do not believe that Iran has made the strategic decision to abandon its efforts to develop a nuclear weapons capability", said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, adding, "We do not believe that Iran has been fully transparent in its October declaration to the IAEA on its nuclear activities”.

"Iran has continued to hide information from the IAEA related to its ongoing efforts to develop a nuclear weapons capability," Boucher charged, also citing its alleged "failure to suspend all enrichment related and reprocessing activities."

Later Friday, the Republican-controlled US Senate unanimously passed a resolution of concern over Iran's failure to meet its IAEA obligations, according to the French news agency AFP.

The resolution expressed "the deep concern of Congress regarding the failure of the Islamic Republic of Iran to adhere to its obligations under a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the engagement by Iran in activities that appear to be designed to develop nuclear weapons". ENDS IRAN NUCLEAR 14204