New Iran uranium enrichment site raises concerns

[samanthajane13]

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer George Jahn, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 22 mins ago

VIENNA – Iran's newly revealed uranium enrichment plant is a heavily guarded, still-unfinished underground facility in the arid mountains near the holy city of Qom that will be able to produce nuclear fuel — or the payload for atomic warheads, Western intelligence officials and diplomats said Friday.

The revelation suggests a network of facilities, including ones with centrifuges that would enrich uranium at much higher speed and efficiency than previously known sites.

Iran's secrecy has heightened suspicions that the new site might have been meant to produce weapons-grade uranium while U.N. monitors were focused elsewhere — concentrating on known facilities to ensure that Tehran produces only low-enriched uranium that cannot be used for weapons.

Iran says its facilities are producing nuclear fuel for power plants, not for weapons.

The head of Iran's nuclear program, Ali Akbar Salehi, called the new facility "a semi-industrial plant for enriching nuclear fuel" that is not yet complete, according to the state news agency IRNA. He suggested that U.N. inspectors would be able to visit the site.

Neither Iran nor the International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed the facility's location or size. Western diplomats and government officials with access to intelligence provided the details on the plant, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the sensitive information.

The U.S. has known of the facility's existence for several years through intelligence developed by U.S., French and British agencies, a senior White House official said.

Western intelligence locates the plant not far from Qom — one of the holiest cities in Shiite Islam, and any military strike near that city would likely provoke a backlash among Shiite Muslims across the Middle East.

U.S. intelligence believes the facility is on a military base controlled by the Revolutionary Guards, according to a document the Obama administration sent to U.S. lawmakers. It was provided to The Associated Press by an official on condition of anonymity because, though unclassified, it was deemed confidential.

A senior U.S. administration official, who demanded anonymity for discussing intelligence, described it as "a very heavily protected, very heavily disguised facility."

The military connection could undermine Iran's contention that the plant was designed for civilian purposes.

At the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh, President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain declared that the secret nuclear facility puts new pressure on Tehran to quickly disclose all its nuclear efforts — including any moves toward weapons development — "or be held accountable."

Speaking in New York, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad responded that his nation was keeping nothing from international inspectors and needn't "inform Mr. Obama's administration of every facility that we have." He added that Obama would regret the statement.

Iran kept the facility, located 100 miles southwest of Tehran, hidden from the IAEA until revealing it in a letter to the IAEA on Monday. That suggests it may have done so only because it wanted to go on record before being exposed.

The Iranians claim to have withdrawn from an agreement with the IAEA requiring them to notify the agency about their intent to build any new nuclear facilities and to be subject only to a six-month notification requirement. Ahmadinejad said Friday the plant was 18 months from being operational.

But the IAEA says Tehran cannot unilaterally withdraw from that bilateral agreement.

George Perkovich, an Iran expert at Washington's Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, suggested Iran must be building at least one other unreported facility, a uranium conversion plant to provide feedstuff for the newly disclosed enrichment plant. That's because the Iranians' known conversion plant, at Isfahan, is under IAEA oversight.


Continued...

[samanthajane13]

"Why would you have a secret enrichment plant under a mountain if you don't have a secret conversion plant?" he asked.

Mark Fitzpatrick, a senior fellow for nonproliferation at the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, said there has been suspicion for some time — but no concrete evidence — that Iran had been working on a second uranium conversion facility to supplement the one at Isfahan, and he agreed that if Iran had an enrichment plant, it would also need a facility to produce the gasified uranium.

Ahmadinejad sidestepped a question about whether Iran had sufficient enriched uranium to manufacture a nuclear weapon. Still, he said Tehran rejects such armaments as "inhumane."

The plant would be about the right size to enrich enough uranium to produce one or two bombs a year, but inspectors must get inside to know what is actually going on, one U.S. official said.

The intelligence assessment cited by diplomats says the site is meant to house no more than 3,000 enriching centrifuges — much less than the more than 8,000 machines at Natanz, Iran's known enrichment facility.

But the plant, which intelligence reports say is set to start operation next year, could be set up for advanced domestically developed centrifuges that enrich uranium at much higher speed and efficiency than the decades old P-1 type centrifuges acquired on the black market and in use at Natanz.

Western officials have said Natanz has already churned out enough low-enriched material to turn out weapons-grade uranium — enriched to 90 percent and beyond — for one nuclear weapon.

The senior U.S. official suggested another rationale for having a secret facility with a smaller number of high-powered centrifuges. Fewer centrifuges "cannot produce a significant quantity of low-enriched uranium," he said. "But if you want to use the facility in order to produce a small amount of weapons-grade uranium, enough for a bomb or two a year, it's the right size.

"And our information is that the Iranians began this facility with the intent that it be secret, and therefore giving them an option of producing weapons-grade uranium without the international community knowing about it."

The new plant "could be the place where they intended to break out" of their civilian program and into a weapons mode, said David Albright of the Washington-based IISS, which has closely tracked Iran for signs of any covert proliferation.

And the fact that Iran disclosed the plant's existence only a few days before it was publicly revealed suggested to Western officials that it may have done so only because it wanted to go on record before being exposed.

"The Iranians learned that the secrecy of the facility was compromised. So they came to believe that the value of the facility as a secret facility was no longer valid," the senior U.S. administration official said.

Iran has a record of nuclear secrecy, and it is blocking an IAEA inquiry based on U.S. and other intelligence that it experimented with a nuclear weapons program.

A meeting to discuss Iran's nuclear program is scheduled in Geneva for Oct. 1 with Iran and representatives of the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

Iran acknowledged running a covert enrichment program only after the National Council of Resistance in Iran revealed its existence seven years ago — a development that mushroomed into a full probe of its nuclear activities and led to three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for its refusal to stop.

In an e-mail Friday to the AP, the dissident group said work on a tunnel and an underground facility near Qom began "in the early part of this decade," adding that a senior general of the Iranian armed forces were responsible for the tunnel project.

The U.S. considers the council to be a terrorist organization, albeit one that has provided Washington with intelligence on Iran. The European Union removed it from its terrorism list this year.

Albright said Iran would be unable to dispel suspicions about the newly disclosed plant after revealing its existence only under apparent duress.

"Iran cannot prove that it wants to use the plant for peaceful purposes now, having Western intelligence exposing them," he said.

___

Contributing to the story were AP writers Paisley Dodds in London, Deborah Seward in Paris, Charles J. Hanley in New York, John Heilprin in New York and Pamela Hess and Desmond Butler in Washington.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090926/...u_nuclear_iran

[samanthajane13]

Venezuela seeking uranium with Iran's help
By FABIOLA SANCHEZ, Associated Press Writer Fabiola Sanchez, Associated Press Writer – 34 mins ago

PORLAMAR, Venezuela – Iran is helping Venezuela to detect uranium deposits and initial evaluations suggest reserves are significant, the South American government said Friday — the same day world leaders criticized the Islamic republic of secretly building a uranium-enrichment plant that could be used to make an atomic bomb.

Mining Minister Rodolfo Sanz said Iran has been assisting Venezuela with geophysical survey flights and geochemical analysis of the deposits, and that evaluations "indicate the existence of uranium in western parts of the country and in Santa Elena de Uairen," in southeastern Bolivar state.

"We could have important reserves of uranium," Sanz told reporters upon arrival on Venezuela's Margarita Island for a weekend Africa-South America summit. He added that efforts to certify the reserves could begin within the next three years.

The announcement came as revelations that Iran has secretly been building a uranium-enrichment plant provoke concerns among countries including the U.S., Russia, France, Britain, Germany and China.

On Friday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged Iran in a statement to prove it is not seeking to develop atomic weapons, saying the undeclared construction of an enrichment facility flies in the face of U.N. Security Council demands for Iran to stop uranium enrichment at its only declared facility.

Iran is under three sets of Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze enrichment at what had been its single publicly known enrichment plant, which is being monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said recently that U.S. officials also have "concerns" about a possible transfer of nuclear materials between Iran and Venezuela.

But analysts say Iran, which has significant uranium deposits, currently has no need to import uranium, although those deposits may not be enough to sustain its future enrichment goals.

Sanz dismissed suggestions that Venezuela could aid Iran with its nuclear program, saying Venezuela is only aiming to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Chavez has repeatedly said that all countries should end their nuclear-weapons programs, while insisting that Iran and Venezuela have a "sovereign right" to pursue peaceful nuclear ambitions.

Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington said that regardless of whether the uranium exploration efforts lead to nuclear cooperation, they are going to cause "a serious problem in the relationship" between Caracas and Washington.

Chavez's government has "clearly announced they're sort of beginning down this road," Shifter said. "It's going to be very difficult for the U.S. to really pursue any cooperation with Caracas on other issues because this is going to top everything else."

Chavez's project remains in its planning stages and still faces a host of practical hurdles, likely requiring billions of dollars, as well as technology and expertise that Venezuela lacks. Russia has offered to help bridge that gap, and Chavez has announced that the two countries have created an atomic energy commission.

But Sergei Novikov, a spokesman for Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom, has said there are no concrete projects and that any joint work on mining deposits of uranium or the radioactive metal thorium would have to wait until Venezuela decides whether it wants Russian help exploring them and, if so, create a joint venture for the purpose.

Both Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are well-known for their anti-U.S. rhetoric, and have forged ties in everything from finance to factories, provoking concerns in Washington. Iran now manufactures cars, tractors and bicycles in Venezuela.

Earlier this month, Chavez sealed a deal to export 20,000 barrels of gasoline daily to Iran, giving Tehran a cushion if the West carries out threats of fuel sanctions over Iran's nuclear program.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090926/...venezuela_iran

[samanthajane13]

Obama warns Iran: 'come clean' on nukes
By CHARLES BABINGTON and ROBERT BURNS, Associated Press Writers Charles Babington And Robert Burns, Associated Press Writers – 39 mins ago

PITTSBURGH – Backed by other world powers, President Barack Obama declared Friday that Iran is speeding down a path to confrontation and demanded that Tehran quickly "come clean" on all nuclear efforts and open a newly revealed secret site for close international inspection. He said he would not rule out military action if the Iranians refuse.

Obama joined the leaders of Britain and France in accusing the Islamic republic of clandestinely building an underground plant to make nuclear fuel that could be used to build an atomic bomb. Iranian officials acknowledged the facility but insisted it had been reported to nuclear authorities as required.

"Iran's action raised grave doubts" about its promise to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes only, Obama told a news conference at the conclusion of a G-20 summit whose focus on world economic recovery was overshadowed by disclosure of the Iranian plant.

Obama said a telling moment could come next week when Iran meets with U.S. and other major nations to discuss the nuclear issue.

"Iran is on notice that when we meet with them on Oct. 1 they are going to have to come clean and they are going to have to make a choice" between international isolation and giving up any aspirations to becoming a nuclear power, he said. If they refuse to give ground, they will stay on "a path that is going to lead to confrontation."

In a dramatic, early morning announcement about the secret Iranian facility, Obama said, "Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow. The size and configuration of this facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program."

Unbowed, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country had done nothing wrong and Obama would regret his accusations.

At a news conference in New York, Ahmadinejad said the plant wouldn't be operational for 18 months but sidestepped a question about whether Iran had sufficient enriched uranium to manufacture a nuclear weapon. Still, he said such armaments "are against humanity, they are inhumane," and he said anyone who pursues them "is retarded politically."

Later Friday on CNN's "Larry King Live," Ahmadinejad said Iran did inform international authorities about its program and questioned what exactly Obama found fault with.

"We exceeded our commitment to the agency based on the regulations, and so is Mr. Obama really questioning why we informed the agency," Ahmadinejad said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The head of Iran's nuclear program suggested U.N. inspectors would be allowed to visit the site. Ali Akbar Salehi called the facility "a semi-industrial plant for enriching nuclear fuel" that is not yet complete, but he gave no other details, according to the state news agency IRNA.

The plant, near the holy city of Qom southwest of Tehran, would be about the right size to enrich enough uranium to produce one or two bombs a year, but inspectors must get inside to know what is actually going on, one U.S. official said.

At his Pittsburgh news conference, Obama appeared to hold out limited hope for the Oct. 1 meeting, which will be the first of its kind in more than a year. Iran has said its nuclear program should not be on the agenda.

"When we find that diplomacy does not work, we will be in a much stronger position to, for example, apply sanctions that have bite," Obama said. "That's not the preferred course of action. I would love nothing more than to see Iran choose the responsible path."

He said he was confident in the reliability of the intelligence information about Iran's secret nuclear facilities.

"This was the work product of three intelligence agencies, not just one," Obama said. "They checked over this work in a painstaking fashion."

Obama said he was especially pleased that Russia and China agreed with him that Iran must live up to its obligations under international rules on nuclear activities. The leaders of Britain and France joined Obama at his morning announcement.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, at his own news conference in Pittsburgh, urged Iran to cooperate and "demonstrate its good intentions" at the Oct. 1 meeting and in allowing inspections. "We call on Iran to show maximum cooperation with the IAEA on this issue," he said.

Beyond tougher economic sanctions, options for acting against Iran are limited and perilous.

Military action by the United States or an ally such as Israel could set off a dangerous chain of events in the Islamic world. In addition, Iran's facilities are spread around the country and well hidden, making an effective military response difficult.

Asked about the prospect of using military force to stop Iran from getting the bomb, Obama said, "With respect to the military, I've always said that we do not rule out any options when it comes to U.S. security interests, but I will also re-emphasize that my preferred course of action is to resolve this in a diplomatic fashion. It's up to the Iranians to respond."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking Friday on CNN's "State of the Union," said it would be a mistake to rule out military action, but he also said there was still room to pursue diplomacy.

"The reality is, there is no military option that does anything more than buy time," Gates said, adding that the U.S. believes Iran could have a nuclear weapons within one to three years. "And the only way you end up not having a nuclear-capable Iran is for the Iranian government to decide that their security is diminished by having those weapons, as opposed to strengthened."

Obama's European partners talked tough, too.

"We will not let this matter rest," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who accused Iran of "serial deception."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Iran has until December to comply with demands for a fuller accounting of its program or face tough new sanctions.

On Capitol Hill, three senators — Democrat Evan Bayh of Indiana, Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona and Independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut — issued a joint statement condemning Iran.

"Given Iran's consistent pattern of deceit, concealment and bad faith, the only way to force Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions is to make absolutely clear to the regime in Tehran that its current course will carry catastrophic consequences," the senators said. "We must leave no doubt that we are prepared to do whatever it takes to stop Iran's nuclear breakout."

Iran had previously acknowledged having only the one uranium enrichment plant, under international monitoring, and had denied allegations of undeclared nuclear activities.

James Acton, a nuclear expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said a consensus has developed that if Iran were to decide to manufacture nuclear weapons the key material probably would be produced in a clandestine facility.

"This should persuade any doubters that Iran's program is not for peaceful purposes," Acton said.

___

National Security Writer Robert Burns reported from Washington. Also contributing were Associated Press writers George Jahn in Vienna, Ben Feller, Foster Klug, Lynn Berry and Michael Fischer in Pittsburgh, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Ben Judah in Moscow, John Heilprin in New York and Pamela Hess and Desmond Butler in Washington.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090926/...FtYXdhcm5zaXI-

[samanthajane13]

UN chief, Netherlands chide Iran's new atom plant
By PETER JAMES SPIELMANN, Associated Press Writer Peter James Spielmann, Associated Press Writer – Sat Sep 26, 11:31 am ET

UNITED NATIONS – Iran's sudden revelation of a formerly secret uranium enrichment plant brought more condemnation Saturday at the U.N. General Assembly, with the Netherlands calling Tehran's presumed weapons program "a major challenge to international peace and security."

The denunciation came hours after Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met privately Friday night with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about Tehran's nuclear ambitions, and about respect for human rights in Iran.

A statement from Ban's office said he "expressed his grave concern about ... the construction of a new uranium enrichment facility in the country."

Ban "emphasized that the burden of proof is on Iran," in an unusually skeptical comment.

On Saturday, Iran's nuclear chief said his country will allow the U.N. nuclear agency to inspect its newly revealed, still unfinished uranium enrichment facility.

Ali Akbar Salehi didn't specify when inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency could visit the site. He said the timing will be worked out with the U.N. watchdog.

Netherlands' Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, speaking Saturday at the U.N. General Assembly, said, "The recent revelation of a nuclear facility, which was long kept secret, is additional reason for great concern. It calls for a strong reaction by the international community and for total transparency by Iran."

"Iran must regain the trust of the international community, comply with relevant Security Council resolutions, and contribute to peace and stability in the Middle East."

In his radio and Internet address, President Barack Obama said Saturday, "Iran's leaders must now choose — they can live up to their responsibilities and achieve integration with the community of nations. Or they will face increased pressure and isolation, and deny opportunity to their own people."

Iran's newly revealed site is said to be in the arid mountains near the holy city of Qom, inside a heavily guarded, underground facility.

The pilot plant will house 3,000 centrifuges that could soon produce nuclear fuel — or the payload for atomic warheads.

He says Iran has "pre-empted a conspiracy" against Tehran by the U.S. and its allies by reporting the site voluntarily to the IAEA.

The key Western power at the United Nations have given Tehran until year's end to cease enriching uranium or face new sanctions, but resistance from China could undermine any effort to mount new Security Council sanctions.

The key to new sanctions would require agreement among all five permanent Security Council members. The United States, Britain and France lean toward more sanctions. Russia now appears open to the measure, but China, which is heavily reliant on Iranian oil imports, still is refusing.

The U.S., Britain and France all mentioned Iran, along with North Korea, as obstacles to a safer world during a Security Council meeting Thursday that approved a U.S.-drafted resolution that commits all nations to achieving a nuclear weapons-free world.

Washington has been pushing for heavier sanctions if Iran does not agree to end enrichment, which many nations believe is part of Tehran's drive to build a nuclear weapon. Iran says its nuclear program is designed to generate electricity.

The U.S. hand was strengthened Wednesday when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev suggested he could now back such sanctions if they became necessary.

But, the prospects of pushing a new sanctions resolution through the Security Council were undercut Thursday when China, one of the veto-wielding permanent members, rejected the idea.

Current U.N. sanctions on Iran are meant to prohibit exports of sensitive nuclear material and technology.

They also allow the inspection of cargo suspected of carrying prohibited goods, tighter monitoring of financial institutions and the extension of travel bans and asset freezes if linked to its nuclear program.

The maneuvering comes ahead of an Oct. 1 meeting of diplomats from Iran, the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany on Tehran's nuclear program.

The resolution does not mention any country by name but it reaffirms previous resolutions that imposed sanctions on Iran and North Korea for their nuclear activities. It did not call for any new sanctions.

Ban also expressed concern about the human rights situation in Iran, with respect to freedoms of association, assembly and practice of religion. He underlined the need to uphold due process and transparency in the trials and treatment of post-election and other detainees, his office said.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090926/...n_iran_nuclear

[samanthajane13]

Iran to allow IAEA visit nuclear site
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 35 mins ago

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran will allow the U.N. nuclear agency to inspect a newly revealed and still unfinished uranium enrichment facility, the country's nuclear chief told state television Saturday.

Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi didn't specify when inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency could visit the site, but said it has to be worked out with the agency under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty rules.

Iran's newly revealed enrichment site is said to be in the arid mountains near the holy city of Qom, inside a heavily guarded, underground facility belonging to the elite Revolutionary Guard.

The small-scale site is meant to house no more than 3,000 centrifuges — much less than the 8,000 machines at Natanz, Iran's known industrial-scale enrichment facility. Still, the enriching machines in Qom facility will produce nuclear fuel — or possibly the payload for atomic warheads.

President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy accused Iran on Friday of constructing a secret underground uranium enrichment facility and of hiding its existence from international inspectors for years.

But Salehi said there was nothing secret about the site and that Iran complied with U.N. rules that require it to inform the world body's nuclear agency six months before a uranium enrichment facility becomes operational.

"Inspection will be within the framework of the regulations ... we have no problem with inspection (of the site). We will work out this issue with the agency and will announce the date of the inspection later after reaching an agreement with IAEA," Salei told state television Saturday.

Salehi, who is also the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said Tehran should be praised, not condemned, for voluntarily revealing the existence of the nuclear facility.

"Under (NPT) rules, we are required to inform the IAEA of the existence of such a facility 180 days before introducing materials but we are announcing it more than a year earlier. Still, we see there is controversy. We are astonished," he said.

Iran says the new facility won't be operational for 18 months so Iran has not violated any IAEA requirements.

The Iranians claim to have withdrawn from an agreement with the IAEA requiring them to notify the agency of the intent to build any new nuclear facilities and instead are now only subject to the six-month notification requirement before a facility becomes operational.

But the IAEA says Tehran cannot unilaterally withdraw from that bilateral agreement and should have announced just the intent to build the facility.

A close aide to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also said said Saturday that the Qom facility will be operational "soon," perhaps even ahead of the 18 month figure cited by Salehi.

"This new facility, God willing, will become operational soon and will blind the eyes of the enemies," Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani told the semi-official Fars news agency.

Salehi said that by reporting the existence of the site voluntarily to the IAEA, Iran "pre-empted a conspiracy" against Tehran by the U.S. and its allies who were hoping to reveal the site as evidence that Iran was developing its nuclear program in secret.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has foiled their planned conspiracy," he said.

Salehi said construction of the Qom facility was a "precautionary measure" to protect Iran's nuclear facilities from possible attacks.

"Given the threats we face every day, we are required to take the necessary precautionary measures, spread our facilities and protect our human assets. Therefore, the facility is to guarantee the continuation of our nuclear activities under any conditions," he told the television.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090926/...l_iran_nuclear

[samanthajane13]

Iran put nuclear site near base in case of attack
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 10 mins ago

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's nuclear chief said Tuesday his country built its newly revealed uranium enrichment facility inside a mountain and next to a military site to ensure continuity of its nuclear activities in case of an attack.

Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, who also heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, reiterated that Iran is in talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency to set a timetable "soon" for an inspection of the site near the holy city of Qom.

The revelations of the site that had been secretly under construction brought increased international pressure on Iran to come clean on its nuclear program, which the U.S. and others suspect is aimed at producing atomic bombs. Salehi's disclosures came two days before the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany meet in Geneva with Iran over its nuclear activities.

Salehi said Iran is willing to have a general discussion about nuclear technology when the country sits down with Western powers in Geneva but will not give up its "sovereign right" to uranium enrichment and conversion.

He said the nuclear facility is next to a military compound of the Revolutionary Guard, Iran's most powerful military force, equipped with an air defense system. Salehi also said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told him Tuesday he named the enrichment plant "Meshkat," which means Lantern.

"This site is at the base of a mountain and was selected on purpose in a place that would be protected against aerial attack. That's why the site was chosen adjacent to a military site," Salehi told a news conference. "It was intended to safeguard our nuclear facilities and reduce the cost of active defense system. If we had chosen another site, we would have had to set up another aerial defense system."

Details about the newly revealed site and the fact that Iran kept its construction secret have raised more suspicion among experts and Western governments that Iran's nuclear program is aimed at producing weapons — something Tehran has long denied. The U.S. and its allies have strongly condemned Iran over the site and demanded it immediately make a full disclosure on its nuclear activities or face harsher international sanctions.

President Barack Obama's administration is planning to push for new sanctions against Iran, targeting its energy, financial and telecommunications sectors if it does not comply with international demands to come clean about its nuclear program, according to U.S. officials.

Israel, which has attacked nuclear sites in Iraq and Syria previously, considers Iran's nuclear and missile development a strategic threat and Ahmadinejad has made repeated references to Israel's destruction. Israel has not ruled out a pre-emptive military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.

But Israeli officials have been instructed not to comment on the newly revealed nuclear site or Iran's missile tests on Sunday and Monday.

Salehi said Iran will officially inform the IAEA of details about the site at a later date.

He said the Qom facility was a "contingency" facility to make sure that Iran's nuclear activities won't stop even for a moment.

"This is a contingency plan. It is one of pre-emptive measures aimed at protecting our nuclear technology and human work force. It is a small version of Natanz," he said. "This is to show that the Islamic Republic of Iran won't allow its nuclear activities stop under any circumstances even for a moment."

Natanz is an industrial-scale enrichment plant in central Iran while the Qom facility, according to Salehi, is a semi-industrial facility."

He gave the location of the site as about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of capital Tehran on the road leading to Qom. That is about 20 miles (30 kilometers) north of Qom. He dismissed a statement by Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman on Monday that the facility was near the village of Fordo, which is about 30 miles south of Qom.

A satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe and GeoEye shows a well-fortified facility built into a mountain about 20 miles northeast of Qom, with ventilation shafts and a nearby surface-to-air missile site, according to defense consultancy IHS Jane's, which did the analysis of the imagery. The image was taken in September.

GlobalSecurity.org analyzed images from 2005 and January 2009 when the site was in an earlier phase of construction and believes the facility is not underground but was instead cut into a mountain. It is constructed of heavily reinforced concrete and is about the size of a football field — large enough to house 3,000 centrifuges used to refine uranium.

Salehi said the site was selected after a careful study by the authorities. He said it was a formerly an ammunition depot before his agency took control of it a year ago and started construction that will eventually house a uranium enrichment plant.

He said the only connection between the Qom nuclear facility and the Guard is the Guard would protect it against possible attacks.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090929/..._mi_ea/ml_iran

[samanthajane13]

Iran's secret site is the missing piece in its nuclear puzzle
By Peter Grier Peter Grier – Tue Sep 29, 5:00 am ET

Washington – Iran's newly revealed second centrifuge plant hidden in a mountainside fits neatly into Tehran's nuclear program, as if it were a long-missing piece to a jigsaw puzzle that's almost complete.

That is because Western intelligence analysts and experts outside government have long suspected that if Iran wanted to produce fissile material for a nuclear weapon, it would have to do so at a hidden facility. Known Iranian nuclear sites are too closely watched to serve that purpose.

Two years ago, in its 2007 National Intelligence Estimate of Iran's nuclear intentions and capabilities, the US intelligence community concluded that "we assess with moderate confidence that Iran probably would use covert facilities – rather than its declared nuclear sites – for the production of highly enriched uranium for weapon."

Information made public so far makes it appear the new site has all the attributes this predicted covert facility would have.

1. It's hidden

First of all, it may be dug into the side of a mountain. The US government has not said exactly where the suspect plant is located, noting only that it is near the city of Qom. But outside experts have already produced satellite imagery (see a pdf of the pictures here) of a likely location that appears to be a tunnel dug into the side of a ridge on a military facility 30 miles north east of Qom.

2. It's small

A US official who briefed reporters last week said it is designed to hold about 3,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges. That is too few to produce low-enriched uranium for a nuclear power reactor.

"But if you want to use the facility in order to produce a small amount of weapons-grade uranium, enough for a bomb or two a year, it's the right size," said the US official.

3. The timing fits

In 2003, an Iranian dissident group revealed the existence of Iran's first clandestine enrichment site, at Natanz. Shortly thereafter, Tehran agreed to submit to tougher Internatonal Atomic Energy Agency scrutiny.

Then, in 2005, tunneling began at the secret site near Qom, imagery suggest. Caught once, Iran may have been trying its luck at a second attempt at concealment.

Iran's other nuclear facilities

The site at Qom is just one of Iran's network of nuclear facilities. Nonproliferation experts have concerns about each in varying degrees.

NATANZ was Iran's first centrifuge enrichment facility – far larger than the newly-discovered plant. Plans call for it to eventually hold 47,000 centrifuges, which Iran says will produce low-enriched uranium for civilian power reactors.

Iran began producing uranium at this facility in mid-April, 2007, according to a recent Congressional Research Service update on the status of the Iranian nuclear program.

As of May 31, 2009, Iran had produced an estimated 1,430 kilograms of low-enriched uranium at this site, according to CRS.

"This quantity of [low-enriched uranium], if further enriched, could theoretically produce enough [highly-enriched uranium] for a nuclear weapon," concludes CRS.

ARAK will be home to a heavy-water nuclear-energy reactor and a facility that produces the heavy water needed to moderate the nuclear chain reaction in such a reactor.

This plant is a proliferation concern because its spent fuel will contain plutonium that is better suited for use in nuclear weapons than the spent fuel from light-water reactors.

Iran says the Arak plant is intended to replace an outdated research reactor in Tehran that is fueled with low-enriched uranium. It will produce medical isotopes when it becomes operational, according to Iranian officials. According to CRS, the Arak reactor is likely to come on-line in 2013.

BUSHEHR is the site of a long-planned 1,000-megawatt light-water nuclear power plant. Begun in 1975 under the Shah, it was abandoned after the 1979 revolution. In 1995, Iran signed a contract with Russia to complete the facility, but the work has often been delayed.

US officials worry that plutonium could be separated from Bushehr's spent fuel, although, as previously noted, light-water reactors are generally considered to be more proliferation-resistant than heavy-water models.

Fuel loading at Bushehr is scheduled to take place this fall. Russia has argued that the project should not be a concern because it will be under close IAEA inspection.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/asecrets...Fuc3NlY3JldHM-

[zurichsl]

i think , iran should have nuclear base as anyone else has ... like , usa , or russia , pakistan , india etc . Why he couldn`t have any when government around him has it as well , and he feel unsafety , plus of course there is israel . Ihave no problem wih the "J`s" at all they that i am who ever i am .
Iknow , muslims as well pretty much and , they are very friendly and very honest people . Of course , the /J`s/ are questioning the world that why is everyone against them , they are the ones who`s against them self`s they just don`t know yet i guess . Exemple , let see here is Iran who wanted to have a nuclear base for unknow purpose . And now , let`s see israel as well , who wanted to be independent from the muslim world , right and the christian world as well , so the question is how would we get a long with each other if the muslim`s can`t get a long with the christian`s and the J`s , and the christian`s and J`s are also acting on the same way as everyon e else around them . The only problem is with the J`s , let see they controlling money they helping each other which is nice , plus they belive in what we don`t belive in . Now , when some one is trying to take over your plan to live for it . Like exemple Adolf Hitler said in one of hes speech , he said We do not have international conntact , or some simular he can`t make a relation ship because of the problem what the jews were creating with out their know eledge , same they need to learn that money is power in everyones hand , now when the power is used for it self is creating a new empty economy .
What is empty economy easy to tell everything is running on nothing . Which can cause an after effect to cause , time period for having nothing in the economy , what so ever i`m not sitting for it but some might do .
Who ever , would do , willl be the one for taking a responsibility for everything has been done by the issue we are talking about . So , the question is who will go in to the problem and trying to resolve that , will be the one who`s responsible for it . Even , the person has nothing to do with it
I would say , that welcome to level 3 in life . Hard to belive and hard to , live with it , may be , but deffinatly worth it . thank you for reading , hope fully you have trully understood and also trully felt the fact can be done by .

[samanthajane13]

Hugo Chavez's Iran Uranium Offer: A New Security Threat?
By TIM PADGETT Tim Padgett – Fri Oct 9, 2:30 pm ET

When Venezuela's Mining Minister Rodolfo Sanz walked into a televised Cabinet meeting this week, President Hugo ChÁvez impishly asked, "So how's the uranium for Iran going? For the atomic bomb." ChÁvez was joking, but few were laughing outside Caracas and Tehran. Ever since ChÁvez announced last month that he was seeking Russia's help to develop nuclear energy in Venezuela - and especially since Sanz turned heads a couple of weeks ago by disclosing that Iran is helping Venezuela locate its own uranium reserves - the South American nation and its socialist, anti-U.S. government have become a new focus of anxiety over regional if not global security.

But how big a concern should Venezuela be? ChÁvez delights in getting a rise out of the U.S., and his alliance with Iran and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is largely a calculated affront to Washington - his version of Cuba's Cold War partnership with the Soviet Union. It's little coincidence that Sanz made his announcement the same day the U.S. and its allies called Iran on the existence of a secret nuclear-fuel plant near the Iranian city of Qum. The U.S. and the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) fear that Iran is on the verge of bolting the global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and developing not just nuclear energy but a nuclear weapon, a charge Tehran denies. Venezuela's ties to the Islamic Republic, as a result, have taken on dimensions beyond just tweaking Uncle Sam's nose.

That suits ChÁvez's fondness for the international spotlight. Still, security experts say he's flirting with something more serious than anti-yanqui bravado. ChÁvez, who recently agreed to sell Iran 20,000 barrels of gasoline a day, backs the country's claim that it's enriching uranium only for peaceful purposes. But if the international community decides Iran is making an atomic bomb - something IAEA inspections may determine later this month - it would complicate any Venezuelan plans to export uranium to the country, since it would be widely viewed as aiding and abetting a rogue nuclear-weapons program. "In that event, the world is watching whether Venezuela seems poised to cross any international legal boundaries," says Johanna Mendelson Forman, a senior associate for the Americas at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. "But it's still too early to tell what Venezuela is really doing."

A recent intelligence report put out by the government of Israel, which considers Iran's nuclear program a direct threat to its security, said Venezuela was already supplying Iran with uranium. But experts say it's hardly certain Venezuela even has much, if any, uranium to provide Iran or anyone else. Officials there have long estimated the country is sitting on 50,000 tons of the radioactive ore, concentrated mostly in western Venezuela and in the Roraima Basin along the country's southeastern border with Brazil and Guyana. (The U.S. has uranium reserves of about 340,000 tons.) It may be high grade, says James Otton, a uranium-resources specialist at the federal U.S. Geological Survey, a reference not to its quality but to the "tremendous quantities of uranium in a given volume of rock" found in places similar to Roraima, a virtual Lost World of Precambrian geology.

But those jungle conditions make extracting the ore, if it's there, difficult. "And there is still no publicly available information that uranium has ever occurred in Venezuela," says Otton. "Right now it's just potential." Robert Rich, a Denver-based uranium expert, agrees: "ChÁvez can claim the geology indicates they might discover it there, but as a scientist I'd say there's not much to it yet."

Sanz, however, insists that Iranian experts have concluded Venezuela "has a lot of uranium." If so, the other big question is whether Venezuela itself will really pursue a nuclear-energy program. Like oil-rich Iran, it's hardly in urgent need of nuclear power: Venezuela has the western hemisphere's largest crude reserves, and 75% of its electricity is hydro-generated. It abandoned its one test nuclear reactor 15 years ago. Still, ChÁvez says the country needs alternatives, and has struck a deal to receive nuclear-fuel-technology aid from Russia, Venezuela's top arms supplier. "We're not going to make an atomic bomb," ChÁvez said after announcing the Russia agreement, "so don't bother us the way you're bothering Iran."

Experts say it could take Venezuela's less-than-stellar science infrastructure more than a decade to develop a nuclear-power industry, let alone a nuclear bomb. (Only Brazil, Argentina and Mexico produce nuclear power in the region.) What's more, Venezuela is a signatory to the 1967 Tlatelolco Treaty, which prohibits the development of nuclear weapons in Latin America. Even so, says Mendelson, "the U.S. is worried that Venezuela has become a platform for the entrance of Iranian mischief in the hemisphere." If Iran is building a bomb, she adds, the U.S. may well assume that Tehran is interested in slipping that technology to Venezuela as well.

All that is speculation at this point, of course, and Venezuela would face isolation not just from the U.S. but from its Latin trade partners - especially Brazil, which is campaigning for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council - if it were to ever toy with nuclear weaponry. As it is, ChÁvez can look forward to stepped-up global pressure if Iran, like North Korea, is eventually found to be pursuing a nuclear bomb, especially if international economic sanctions are imposed on Tehran. If that happens, ChÁvez has indicated he'll ignore the measures and keep supplying the 20,000 barrels per day of gasoline to Iran, which has to import almost half its gasoline because of a lack of refineries.

Then again, it's uncertain if powers like Russia and China, which sell even larger quantities of gasoline to Iran, would take part in U.S.-led sanctions themselves. Their postures are a reminder that when it comes to thwarting Iran's nuclear ambitions, Venezuela may be a small concern in comparison. But given the tensions involved at the moment, few besides ChÁvez are finding humor in it.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/2009100...08599192925600