Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., December 31, 2009 Tevet 14, 5770 | | Israel Time: 12:33 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Jewish World Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Focus U.S.A. Strenger than Fiction Business Travel Magazine Week's End Anglo File Books
Share |
Last update - 22:16 29/12/2009
Report: Iran seeking to smuggle purified uranium
By The Associated Press
Tags: Iran nucular, Israel news 

Iran is close to clinching a deal to clandestinely import 1,350 tons of purified uranium ore from Kazakhstan, according to an intelligence report obtained by the Associated Press on Tuesday.

Such imports are banned by the UN Security Council, and diplomats said the assessment was heightening international concern about Tehran's nuclear activities.

Such a purified uranium ore deal would be significant because Tehran appears to be running out of the material, which it needs to feed its uranium enrichment program.
Advertisement

A summary of the report obtained by the Associated Press on Tuesday said the deal could be completed within weeks. It said Tehran was willing to pay $450 million, or close to 315 million euros, for the shipment.

The report was drawn up by a member nation of the International Atomic energy agency and provided to the AP on condition that the country not be identified because of the confidential nature of the information.

Iran is under three sets of UN Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze its enrichment program and related activities that could be used to make nuclear weapons.

Tehran denies such aspirations, saying it wants to enrich only to fuel an envisaged network of power reactors.

A senior UN official said the agency was aware of the intelligence report's assessment but could not yet draw conclusions. He demanded anonymity for discussing confidential information.

A Western diplomat from a member of the IAEA's 35-nation board said the report was causing concern among countries that have seen it and generating intelligence chatter. The diplomat also requested anonymity for discussing intelligence information.

The price is high because of the secret nature of the deal and due to Iran's commitment to keep secret the elements supplying the material, said the summary.

An official of the country that drew up the report said elements referred to state employees acting on their own without approval of the Kazakh government.

After-hours calls put in to offices of Kazatomprom, the Kazak state uranium company, in Kazakhstan and Moscow, were not answered Tuesday. Iranian nuclear officials also did not pick up their telephones.

Purified ore, or uranium oxide, is processed into a uranium gas, which is then spun and re-spun to varying degrees of enrichment. Low enriched uranium is used for nuclear fuel, and upper-end high enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.

Iran rejects world powers' deadline

Meanwhile, Iran again rejected a deadline for the end of this year set by the world powers on a uranium enrichment deal.

"Actually we have a deadline and our deadline is that if no proper response is received [from the world powers] on the deal, then we will go on with further uranium enrichment for our Tehran medical reactor," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters.

The United States and the four other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - Britain, China, France and Russia - as well as Germany, have threatened Iran with new punitive measures if it did not accept a compromise deal by the end of this year.

According to a plan brokered in October by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran's low enriched uranium was to be exported to Russia and France for further enrichment of up to 20 percent and processing into fuel for the Tehran reactor.

"We can no longer wait and if they do not agree with the purchase or exchange, then we will do the 20 percent enrichment process by ourselves," Mottaki said.

Uranium, enriched to a higher degree of up to 90 per cent, can be used to make nuclear weapons. The West fears that Iran is pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons programme under the guise of its civilian activities.

Mottaki reiterated that Tehran would be ready to either buy the processed uranium, produce it itself or exchange it in several phases on Iranian soil as a guarantee that the deal was valid.

The world powers and the IAEA have rejected the swap being made in Iran.
PROMOTION: Mamilla Hotel
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
Letter to a settler
Respect Israel's democracy, Carlo Strenger implores the settlers.
Israeli on ice
Hezi Dayan tries to break David Blaine's record for sitting in a block of ice.
  1.   Intelligence agencies 22:22  |  Bob 29/12/09
  2.   Secret is out - Kazakhstan won`t play 22:24  |  Reid 29/12/09
  3.   so what? 22:43  |  JJ 29/12/09
  4.   Hmmm 22:51  |  Kieran 29/12/09
  5.   This Response from Obama Could Determine His Presidency 22:51  |  Eli 29/12/09
  6.   Ramping up the War Rhetoric 23:12  |  Marc Leb 29/12/09
  7.   Yet another fabricated issue 23:13  |  Milad 29/12/09
  8.   So What? 23:17  |  Mike Jones 29/12/09
  9.   #2 And Israel is a sovereignty about to get nuked 23:25  |  Dan 29/12/09
  10.   who believes iran?? 23:33  |  vik 29/12/09
  11.   Kazakhstan? What piffle are they trying to push now? 23:37  |  CJ 29/12/09
  12.   Iran knows the US is weak 23:46  |  Peter Williams 29/12/09
  13.   JJ, you have no idea what you are talking about 23:46  |  SDHD 29/12/09
  14.   Israel`s nukes 23:51  |  Jethro 29/12/09
  15.   1st December 2009 23:52  |  CJ 29/12/09
  16.   @2 jj `so what` 23:58  |  neil 29/12/09
  17.   April 13, 09 US probing solution to Iran nuclear problem with Ka 00:02  |  CJ 30/12/09
  18.   Iran must be stopped. 00:03  |  Dan 30/12/09
  19.   4/6/2009 Obama might see such a uranium bank as a way to give Ira 00:06  |  CJ 30/12/09
  20.   JJ 00:07  |  Contrarian 30/12/09
  21.   Good news!!! 00:08  |  Latin Lover. 30/12/09
  22.   If Iran left alone, it would lose nuke motivation 00:18  |  mehmet 30/12/09
  23.   Iran + nuclear capabilities 00:19  |  Sabah 30/12/09
  24.   Where are the power generating stations, ... 00:24  |  Jasper 30/12/09
  25.   Transport 1,350 tons!?!? 00:34  |  Dean Blake 30/12/09
  26.   To Kieran 01:25  |  Bijan 30/12/09
  27.   Obama, Kazatomprom and uranium ore. 01:26  |  Fortuna Benmayor 30/12/09
  28.   Iran has alot of poor quality ore, they need more tech to refine 01:40  |  Bloodyscot 30/12/09
  29.   40 GBP($64) question 01:46  |  Neville Chamberlain 30/12/09
  30.   Who sent the "intelligence report" to Associated Press? 02:16  |  Mark Leaman 30/12/09
  31.   Where`s the evidence? 02:25  |  Sceptic 30/12/09
  32.   #2--under international treaties not so sovereign 02:50  |  Paul Freedman 30/12/09
  33.   So use your noggin, JJ (#2) 02:58  |  Morris Valentine 30/12/09
  34.   Secret??? 02:59  |  John Spear 30/12/09
  35.   To # 3 Good for Iraq 03:02  |  Middle East Guru 30/12/09
  36.   #6 Bloodyscot, u r the voice of reason. merci 03:11  |  frenchfry 30/12/09
  37.   The problem with Iranian Ore 03:14  |  Mark Lincoln 30/12/09
  38.   Quite true Bloodyscot 03:22  |  Mark Lincoln 30/12/09
  39.   To#6 I hope you are correct about Iran 03:29  |  Middle East Guru 30/12/09
  40.   #3 Kieran....guess what 03:56  |  Lynn 30/12/09
  41.   Cheshire Cat says it`s legal 04:36  |  Neville Chamberlain 30/12/09
  42.   It may well be a "Red Herring". 10:46  |  Stephen 30/12/09
  43.   It`s false. A putrid propaganda piece...WHY? 10:48  |  CJ 30/12/09
  44.   #33 Morris Valentine, how about common sense? 12:12  |  Mark B. 31/12/09
Special Offers
Advertisement
Eldan Rent a Car
Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
100% Pure Dead Sea Salt
Lowest price in the U.S.A. for genuine Dead Sea Salts
Award-Winning 'Obsession'
Watch 'Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West' Online FOR FREE!
Protea Hills
A Retirement Village in Nature Nestled in the Foothills of Jerusalem
Date Local Jewish Singles
Ready to meet your match? Join Jdate today!
Junkyard
Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
More Headlines
10:26 'Hamas ready with final response on Israel's offer for Shalit'
04:49 Police suspected 'Jewish terrorist' 10 years ago
10:50 Kadima No. 2 to Livni: Set a date for primaries
11:35 Israel's 10 worst errors of the decade
04:38 Mazuz's farewell decision: Will 'Jenin, Jenin' director be indicted?
11:55 Iran troops reportedly move into Tehran ahead of opposition rally
11:59 5 religious girls sue police for allegedly strip-searching them
09:30 You decide: Who was your Person of the Decade?
04:55 TV ROUND-UP: Hamas to respond to Shalit deal, Israeli magician in ice
09:13 Israel looks to budget NIS 190m in aid for Gaza border towns
10:07 U.S. court to rule on return of Jewish books from Russia
05:10 Yeshiva student charged with biting senior IDF officer
09:30 Knesset expected to pass law to halt 25% water price hike
01:38 Uranus and Neptune get Hebrew names at last
Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Site rules |
| Advert: Recommended Restaurants | Makom: Engaging on Israel
| Search engine marketing
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved