IRAN HIDING URANIUM ENRICHMENT PLANT AT AIR BASE
United Nations 19 Feb. (IPS) International inspectors have found sophisticated uranium-enrichment machinery at an air force base outside Iran's capital, Tehran, U.S. and foreign sources with knowledge of the discovery say, the newspaper USA Today said on Thursday.
If confirmed, the find at Doshan-Tappeh air base that is controlled by
the Revolutionary Guards Air Force would badly damage ayatollah’s claim
that they are not building a nuclear arsenal, since the location given by the
diplomats of the advanced centrifuge cast doubt on Iranian claims that its
military was not involved in the country's nuclear program.
The find follows another one made earlier by the International Atomic Energy Agency (I AEA) showing that the Islamic Republic was using more sophisticated equipments to enrich uranium.
The British news agency Reuters for its part quoted diplomats in Vienna speaking on condition of anonymity confirming that the designs were of a P-2 centrifuge — more advanced than the P-1 model Iran has acknowledged using to enrich uranium for what is says are peaceful purposes. They said preliminary investigations by inspectors working for the Vienna-based IAEA indicated they matched drawings of equipment found in Libya and supplied by the Pakistani network headed by the Disgraced Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.
The IAEA nor would the Bush administration would not comment the information. However, the USA Today quoted un unidentified source with knowledge of the find at the base saying the Iranians had constructed and tested a gas-centrifuge system there. Such a system is used to refine uranium for nuclear reactors or bombs. There was no indication any uranium had been inserted or enriched.
Iran’s Foreign Affairs Minister Kamal Kharrazi disclosed some days ago that his country has produced enough enriched uranium to be able to offer some of it on the international market, contradicting other experts, including from the IAEA, insisting that Iran had not reached the level of being self sufficient in developing enough enriched uranium for the use of nuclear bomb.
Last October, Iran agreed with France, Germany and Britain to suspend efforts to enrich uranium and to sign the Additional Protocol to the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that would allow international nuclear inspectors to inspect any nuclear site or project or installation without restriction from the authorities.
"The question is, did the Iranians actually give us the Full Monty or are they just doing a striptease?" asks Patrick Clawson, deputy director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, quoted by the USA Today.
Three sources with knowledge of the latest find say it will be mentioned in an IAEA report to be sent to the 35 governments on the organization's board this weekend.
One expert said Iran should be encouraged to keep cooperating with the IAEA and not be subjected to U.N. penalties, but other sources say if confirmed the discoveries would bring the European Union and United States closer in taking the case to the United Nations Security council for though economic sanctions gainst the Islamic Republic.
"You want the Iranians to reveal more, and we know there is more to reveal", says David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, who, in a report to be published soon, says Iran has produced enough enriched uranium to make 30 atomic bombs.
Pressure on Iran has increased since Libya decided last year to reveal its nuclear activities and Pakistan admitted that its top nuclear scientist sold nuclear know-how to Libya, Iran and North Korea. ENDS IRAN NUCLEAR 19204