Last update - 00:00 11/04/2007
Moscow vexed by Iranian air defense drill near nuclear plant
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent, AP and DPA
Moscow expressed its annoyance to Tehran over an Iranian air defense exercise near a Russian-built nuclear plant, Russia's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
The Iranian air defense forces did not notify Russian officials before conducting maneuvers Friday near the nuclear plant, being built by Russia in the southern port of Bushehr, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said.
The Russian Embassy has expressed bewilderment, and asked to inform Russian experts in Bushehr about such events in advance, Kamynin said in a statement.
The statement reflected the growing tension in the bilateral ties over a dispute involving funding for the Bushehr plant, in addition to Moscow's irritation with Iran's refusal to freeze its uranium enrichment program in line with international demands.
Russia delayed Bushehr's launch, which had been set for September, and refused to ship uranium fuel for the reactor, citing Iran's payment arrears. Iranian officials denied any payment delays, and accused Russia of caving in to Western pressure.
Russia and China joined the rest of the UN Security Council last month in voting to impose new sanctions - the second set of penalties in three months against Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.
The sanctions included the banning of Iranian arms exports and freezing of assets of 28 people and organizations involved in Iran's nuclear and missile programs.
Earlier Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency told German radio that Iran will have the capacity to build its own nuclear bomb only in four to six years, leaving time for diplomatic efforts to counter the potential threat.
Speaking to Deutschlandfunk, Melissa Fleming said it was incomprehensible that Tehran was not opening its uranium enrichment program to inspection.
She noted that Iran had gained access to related materials illegally in the past and concealed nuclear experiments.
Fleming added that Iran had a basic right to operate nuclear facilities, provided that this was done in a transparent and legal way.
The UN has imposed limited sanctions on Iran until it suspends enrichment, a key process that can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the basis of a warhead. The United States and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran denies.
On April 9, 2006, Iran announced it had first enriched uranium using an array of 164 centrifuges, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Monday that his country was now capable of producing nuclear fuel on an 'industrial scale.'
But Ahmadinejad did not specify how many centrifuges were now operational as he spoke at a ceremony at the facility.
Until now, Iran was known to have two cascades of 164 centrifuges each operating at an aboveground portion of the Natanz facility in central Iran. The two cascades have produced small quantities of non-weapons grade enriched uranium, UN nuclear inspectors have said.
Two smaller assemblies are known to have been set up in a heavily protected underground portion of Natanz, and have been going through dry testing - without gas - since November, according to inspectors.
Iran is believed to be attempting to install some 3,000 centrifuges at Natanz - which U.S. experts say is enough to build a nuclear bomb.
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