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Last update - 14:58 16/09/2008
IAEA says Iran stalling probe into alleged atom bomb research
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent and The Associated Press
Tags: Iran, nuclear, UN, IAEA

United Nations efforts to investigate allegations that Iran tried to make nuclear arms have run into a dead end, with Tehran steadfastly blocking efforts to probe the accusations, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday.

The conclusion was contained in an IAEA report released Monday to the 35-nation IAEA board and the UN Security Council, which has already imposed three sets of sanctions because of Tehran's nuclear defiance.

"We've arrived at a gridlock," said a senior UN official, describing the document as a progress report without progress. He demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the restricted report, made available to The Associated Press.
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The document also said that - through uranium enrichment - Tehran now has amassed a quarter of the amount of enriched uranium it would need to reprocess into the material serving as the fissile core of a nuclear weapon, should it choose to do so.

The U.S. and its allies say Iran wants to develop its nuclear program in a bid to produce an atomic weapon. But Tehran insists it seeks the technology only to create nuclear fuel, and IAEA oversight and inspections of the Islamic Republic's known enrichment program has not come up with any evidence that contradict what Tehran says.

The six-page report confirmed that Iran continues to expand its uranium enrichment program in defiance of three sets of UN Security Council sanctions imposed in attempts to force Tehran to shelf such activities.

The document said Iran was now either fully or partially operating 6,000 centrifuges at its cavernous underground facility at Natanz. Beyond those machines, which spin uranium gas into enriched uranium, it was testing 12 more advanced prototypes at its aboveground experimental site at Natanz, a city about 300 miles (500 kilometers) south of Tehran.

To date, Iran had enriched 480 kilograms - about 1,000 pounds - of low enriched uranium suitable for nuclear fuel, the report said.

Running smoothly, 3,000 centrifuges could produce enough nuclear material for a bomb within 18 months, were they configured for that function.

Iran's refusal to end enrichment has been the main trigger for the Security Council sanctions and continues to be the overriding concern for Washington and others accusing Tehran of wanting to make a bomb.

But with Tehran repeatedly saying it was not planning to stop its enrichment program and even giving progress reports on its expansion - the conclusions on enrichment revealed little new. That left the IAEA's acknowledgment - that it had been stonewalled in months of efforts to shed more light on the allegations of past secret Iranian experiments geared toward developing nuclear arms - the most striking part of the report.

"Since its last report in May, the agency ... has not been able to make any substantive progress," the document said. It called the impasse a matter of "serious concern."

"If Iran continues to block investigators, the IAEA will not be able to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran," the report said.

In Washington, the White House threatened more sanctions if Iran continues to defy the UN.

"This report shows once again that Iran is refusing to cooperate with the international community," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

"The Iranian regime's continued defiance only further isolates the Iranian people. We urge Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities or face further implementation of the existing United Nations Security Council sanctions and the possibility of new sanctions," he said.

But Ali-Ashgar Soltanieh, Iran's chief delegate to the IAEA, asserted there was nothing for the agency to investigate as far as weapons programs were concerned.

"The Americans did a lousy job with the CIA and associated terrorist groups that work with them," he told the Associated Press, alluding to Iranian claims that the information coming from the Americans pointing to past Iranian weapons programs was forged.

Intelligence received by the IAEA from the U.S. and other agency board member nations, suggests Iran experimented with an undeclared uranium enrichment program that was linked to a missile project and drew up blueprints on refitting missiles to allow them to carry nuclear warheads.

The intelligence also suggested Iran was researching construction of an underground site that apparently could be used to test fire nuclear bombs and ordered dual use equipment from abroad that could be part of an atomic weapons program.

Additionally, Iran possesses diagrams showing how to mold uranium metal into the shape of warheads.

U.S. intelligence estimates that Iran conducted such experiments until 2003. Iran rejects such allegations and says documents backing them up are fabricated.

Iran confirmed on Monday that there had been no progress in the IAEA inquiry, but cited the UN's failure to adopt the proper "approach" for the impasse.

"There has been no progress because the IAEA was not able to adopt an approach to resolve the issue," a senior Iranian official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

The official said the IAEA should change its approach and work in a "legal and logical" manner.

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      1.   Get to Stepin`!!! 16:15  |  Cool B 15/09/08
      2.   Iran will have a nuclear bomb next year. 16:44  |  Jean Van Daem 15/09/08
      3.   "was not able to adopt an approach" 17:13  |  JP 15/09/08
      4.   "was not able to adopt an approach" 17:15  |  JP 15/09/08
      5.   World-Wide "MAD" Deterrence Network 17:52  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 15/09/08
      6.   green light. now for the bombing. 18:29  |  frenz 15/09/08
      7.   JP- Investigate and then speak 18:35  |  Raad 15/09/08
      8.   #2 Jean van Daem 19:05  |  Mark B. 15/09/08
      9.   #5 Ovadiah Ben Abraham, old story 19:13  |  Mark B. 15/09/08
      10.   We were told that none of this is true. NIE report. 19:40  |  Stephen. 15/09/08
      11.   The IAEA Cards are really getting old 19:47  |  Yuri 15/09/08
      12.   Raad, I´m make an interpretation of they fear. 19:59  |  JP 15/09/08
      13.   Questions for Jean van Daem # 2 20:28  |  Clickfool 15/09/08
      14.   Raad of London....I would guess from reading 20:52  |  Lynn 15/09/08
      15.   38 Mark B...I am suggesting a news site to you 20:55  |  Lynn 15/09/08
      16.   #15 Lynn, thanks and I will , but... 21:24  |  Mark B. 15/09/08
      17.   Neutron bomb Iran already! 21:35  |  Ethan 15/09/08
      18.   EXACTLY what their fellow travellers have been loudly denying 23:37  |  PETER SM 15/09/08
      19.   For Peter SM # 16 23:54  |  Clickfool 15/09/08
      20.   No greater Israel, no cheap free flowing oil from Iran... 00:45  |  Maureen Ann 16/09/08
      21.   Diplomacy is not working. Time to bomb Iran and that 00:57  |  Ben 16/09/08
      22.   David and Goliath 01:11  |  Neutered Observer 16/09/08
      23.   Is Anyone Surprised ? 03:03  |  Gary 16/09/08
      24.   Will CNN be filming the IAF attack on Iran? 04:16  |  Murray the Mongoose 16/09/08
      25.   #20 maureen SURE knows what CHEAP is all about 07:06  |  CK Tan 16/09/08
      26.   Sorry Ethan, no such thing as a neutron bomb 07:14  |  spyguy 16/09/08
      27.   iran is going to mess around and have their nuke;better get back 07:38  |  glenna 16/09/08
      28.   IAEA Report, 15/9/: "assistance of foreign expertise" 08:33  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 16/09/08
      29.   For Cipora # 28 09:04  |  Clickfool 16/09/08
      30.   time to act 09:27  |  Charles Emelogu 16/09/08
      31.   Iran: Aquisition of Russian S-300. 11:58  |  Zed 16/09/08
      32.   # 26 spyguy.Yes there is such a bomb. Ask NATO. 12:07  |  Stephen. 16/09/08
      33.   CFOOL Does "Mad" work in a martyr army.In a nation of martyrs? 12:10  |  PETER SM 16/09/08
      34.   For Peter SM, whose head is full of Zionist propaganda # 33 12:45  |  Clickfool 16/09/08
      35.   Iranian rationality 18:00  |  Evren İşbilen 16/09/08
      36.   A missile to carry nuclear fuel? 23:43  |  Murray the Mongoose 16/09/08
      37.   Sorry SpyGuy, I don`t care about your gas. I care about Jews. 00:28  |  Ethan 17/09/08
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