AP: Iran poised for big nuke jump

VIENNA - Iran is poised to greatly expand uranium enrichment at a fortified underground bunker to a point that would boost how quickly it could make nuclear warheads, diplomats tell The Associated Press.

They said Tehran has put finishing touches for the installation of thousands of new-generation centrifuges at the cavernous facility machines that can produce enriched uranium much more quickly and efficiently than its present machines.

While saying that the electrical circuitry, piping and supporting equipment for the new centrifuges was now in place, the diplomats emphasized that Tehran had not started installing the new machines at its Fordo facility and could not say whether it was planning to.

Still, the senior diplomats who asked for anonymity because their information was privileged suggested that Tehran would have little reason to prepare the ground for the better centrifuges unless it planned to operate them. They spoke in recent interviews -- the last one Saturday.

The reported work at Fordo appeared to reflect Iran's determination to forge ahead with nuclear activity that could be used to make atomic arms despite rapidly escalating international sanctions and the latent threat of an Israeli military strike on its nuclear facilities.

Fordo could be used to make fissile warhead material even without such an upgrade, the diplomats said.

They said that although older than Iran's new generation machines, the centrifuges now operating there can be reconfigured within days to make such material because they already are enriching to 20 percent a level that can be boosted quickly to weapons-grade quality.

Their comments appeared to represent the first time anyone had quantified the time it would take to reconfigure the Fordo centrifuges into machines making weapons-grade material.

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In contrast, Iran's older enrichment site at Natanz is producing uranium at 3.4 percent, a level normally used to power reactors. While that too could be turned into weapons-grade uranium, reassembling from low to weapons-grade production is complex, and retooling the thousands of centrifuges at Natanz would likely take weeks.

The diplomats' recent comments came as International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors are scheduled to visit Tehran on Sunday. Their trip the second this month is another attempt to break more than three years of Iranian stonewalling about allegations that Tehran has or is secretly working on nuclear weapons that would be armed with uranium enriched to 90 percent or more.

Diplomats accredited to the IAEA expect little from that visit. They told the AP that as before Iran was refusing to allow the agency experts to visit Parchin, the suspected site of explosives testing for a nuclear weapon and had turned down other key requests made by the experts.

Iranian officials deny nuclear weapons aspirations, saying the claims are based on bogus intelligence from the U.S. and Israel.

But IAEA chief Yukiya Amano has said there are increasing indications of such activity. His concerns were outlined in 13-page summary late last year listing clandestine activities that either can be used in civilian or military nuclear programs, or ``are specific to nuclear weapons.''

An anti-aircraft gun position is seen at Iran's nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, Iran, in this this Sept. 2007 file photo.

/ AP/File Photo

Among these were indications that Iran has conducted high explosives testing and detonator development to set off a nuclear charge, as well as computer modeling of a core of a nuclear warhead. The report also cited preparatory work for a nuclear weapons test and development of a nuclear payload for Iran's Shahab 3 intermediate range missile a weapon that could reach Israel.

Iran says it is enriching only to make nuclear fuel. But because enrichment can also create fissile warhead material, the U.N. Security Council has imposed sanctions on Tehran in a failed attempt to force it to stop.

More recently, the U.S., the European Union and other Western allies have either tightened up their own sanctions or rapidly put new penalties in place striking at the heart of Iran's oil exports lifeline and its financial system.

The most recent squeeze on Iran was announced Friday, when SWIFT, a financial clearinghouse used by virtually every country and major corporation in the world, agreed to shut out the Islamic Republic from its network.

Global bank hub ready to cut off Iran

Diplomats say the choke-holds are being applied in part to persuade Israel to hold off on potential military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities among them Fordo, a main Israeli concern because it is dug deep into a mountain and could be impervious to the most powerful bunker busting bombs.

Diplomats told the AP earlier this month that Iran had added two new series or cascades of old-generation IR-1 centrifuges to its Fordo operation, meaning 348 centrifuges were now operating in four cascades.

Olli Heinonen, who retired last year as the IAEA's chief Iran inspector, recently estimated that these machines, and two other cascades at Natanz can produce around 15 kilograms (more than 30 pounds) of 20-percent enriched uranium a month, using Iran's tons of low-enriched uranium as feedstock.

The low and higher enriched uranium now being produced ``provides the basic material needed to produce four to five nuclear weapons,'' Heinonen said.

But he suggested "an altogether different scenario'' a much quicker pace of enrichment to levels easily turned into weapons-capable uranium if Iran starts using newer, more powerful centrifuges at Fordo. That, said the diplomats, is exactly what Iran appears to be on the verge of doing by finishing preparatory work recently for new centrifuge installations.

Fordo, which can house 3,000 centrifuges, was confidentially revealed to the IAEA by Iran in 2009, just days before the U.S. and Britain jointly announced its existence.

Iran announced last year that it would move its 20-percent uranium production to Fordo from Natanz and sharply boost capacity. It started making higher grade material two years ago saying it needed it to fuel a research reactor.

But the U.S. and others question the rationale, pointing out that Iran rejected offers of foreign fuel supplies for that reactor and is making more of the higher-enriched material than that small reactor needs.

[EstherHaman]

What is good for the Goose is good for the Gander. If the Zionist have used their arsenal of nuclear weapons as an umbrella to take over Palestine and to deport over 5 million people from their homes and farms, committed atrocities such as the one in the "Goldstone" report by the UN on the indigence people of Palestine, then it is time for some nation or someone to stand up and present that to the world.
Iran's actions have exposed the Zionist and the Jews behind these unjust and cruel practices during the last 50 years. Iran's stand against West in every area has exposed west for what the Western power and the Zionists stand for. This is unprecedented and has had great consequences around the world and not just the Arab and the Islamic countries.
The Constant Iran phobia that is totally baseless and unjust has back fired on us over and over. But the Zionist pressure and influence shows its ugly presence in all aspects of American daily life. People such as Rupert Murdock and senator Lieberman are just only two them to mention. So, wake up and smell the coffee America, SEE WHO IS RUNNING YOUR COUNTRY.
Get real

[yuiu90]

Article IV of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
1. Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with Articles I and II of this Treaty.

2. All the Parties to the Treaty undertake to facilitate, and have the right to participate in, the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials and scientific and technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Parties to the Treaty in a position to do so shall also co-operate in contributing alone or together with other States or international organizations to the further development of the applications of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, especially in the territories of non-nuclear-weapon States Party to the Treaty, with due consideration for the needs of the developing areas of the world.

[yuiu90]

TEHRAN - The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations has said that Tehran will not negotiate with the major powers over its inalienable rights.

Ambassador Mohammad Khazaii made the remarks during an interview with the Washington-based radio network NPR on February 9.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to engage in negotiations with the 5+1 group (the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany), but it will not negotiate over its inalienable rights, Khazaii stated.

He also said that Tehran will send a letter to European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the six major powers in nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Iran is ready to hold serious talks without preconditions, he added.

But those who think that Iran will change its logical and principled policy under the pressure of sanctions are mistaken, Khazaii said, adding that the Islamic Republic has never made concessions on its absolute rights.

Despite the West's claims, the sanctions imposed on the country have targeted the Iranian people, he added.

Israel is a cancerous tumor

Asked about Israeli officials' remarks about the nature of Iran's nuclear program, Khazaii said that the Zionist regime has no right to comment on Tehran's nuclear activities since it possesses nuclear weapons and is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The world's countries must pressure the Zionist regime into signing the NPT, he said.

The Iranian ambassador went on to say that Israel has a long record of committing criminal acts against people around the world and has had a hand in the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, so it can be called a cancerous tumor in the region.

Consequences of Iran attack devastating for Israel

Elsewhere in his remarks, Khazaii commented on the Zionist regime's threats of military action against Iran, saying it seems that they will not carry out their threats.

The consequences would be "devastating" for Israel and maybe for whoever helps them, he added.

Iran's policy is to avoid committing an aggression against other countries, but if an action is taken against Iran's interests or its nuclear facilities, the Islamic Republic will definitely defend itself with all its strength, Khazaii commented.

He also said that Iran's nuclear program does not have military dimensions and that the proposal for the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East was first made by the Islamic Republic.

Iran to block Strait of Hormuz if attacked

On Iran's threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, Khazaii said that the Islamic Republic does not intend to use the waterway to engage in a war with other countries unless Iran's positions come under attack.

[stevex47]

I mean, you know they are gonna get bombed sometime soon.

They are kinda begging for it.

Russia and China could stop it easy, but no, they are going to let it happen.

[erpicferl]

how many wars has iran started in the last 500 years? ZERO.

relax people.

[Sulla Felix]

Once you're a member of the Nuclear Club you get to be a bully and the other members tend to leave you alone. There is also an element of care and concern. Witness North Korea. Without nuclear weapons would anyone care about them in their self imposed isolation?

Then there's December 21, 2012. Maybe the Mayan's got it right.

[taylorsucram]

Iran simply is not, as former CIA analyst and presidential adviser Bruce Reidel makes clear, "an existential threat" to Israel. Even a theoretical future nuclear-armed Iran, if it ever chose that trajectory, would not be a threat to the existence of Israel, but would be a threat to Israel's longstanding nuclear monopoly in the Middle East. That is the real threat motivating Israel's attack-Iran-now campaign. Further, as long as top US political officials, from the White House to Congress, are competing to see who can be more supportive of Israel in its stand-off with Iran, no one in Washington will even consider pressure on Israel to end its violations of international law and human rights regarding its occupation and apartheid policies towards Palestinians. Israel gets a pass, but remember this, the following are the United Nations Security Council resolutions Israel has utterly ignored since 1948 to 2009:

UNSC Res - 57, 89, 93, 100, 101, 106, 111, 119, 171, 228, 237, 242, 248, 250, 251, 252, 256, 259, 262, 265, 267, 270, 271, 279, 280, 285, 298, 313, 316, 317, 332, 337, 347, 425, 427, 446, 450, 452, 465, 467, 468, 469, 471, 476, 478, 484, 487, 497, 501, 509, 515, 517, 518, 520, 521, 573, 592, 605, 607, 608, 611, 636, 641, 672, 673, 681, 694, 726, 799, 904, 1073, 1322, 1402, 1403, 1405, 1435, 1544, 1701, 1860.

These relate to Israel's violations of international law, UN Charter, Geneva Conventions and for acts of international terrorism. Our unswerving relationship with Israel has resulted in Israel being caught spying on us and stealing state secrets many, many times over and the deaths of over 37 American naval personnel when Israeli Jets (bought and paid for by the U.S.) knowingly fired on the American Naval vessel USS Liberty and its life-boats during the so-called "6-day war".

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE, WHO NEEDS ENEMIES? EVEN DEF. SEC. GATES STATED (just a few days ago) THAT IRAN DOES NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR BOMB PROGRAM AND HAS NOT HAD ONE SINCE 2003!!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?

[yiu90]

TEHRAN - The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations has said that Tehran will not negotiate with the major powers over its inalienable rights.

Ambassador Mohammad Khazaii made the remarks during an interview with the Washington-based radio network NPR on February 9.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to engage in negotiations with the 5+1 group (the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany), but it will not negotiate over its inalienable rights, Khazaii stated.

He also said that Tehran will send a letter to European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the six major powers in nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Iran is ready to hold serious talks without preconditions, he added.

But those who think that Iran will change its logical and principled policy under the pressure of sanctions are mistaken, Khazaii said, adding that the Islamic Republic has never made concessions on its absolute rights.

Despite the West's claims, the sanctions imposed on the country have targeted the Iranian people, he added.

Israel is a cancerous tumor

Asked about Israeli officials' remarks about the nature of Iran's nuclear program, Khazaii said that the Zionist regime has no right to comment on Tehran's nuclear activities since it possesses nuclear weapons and is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The world's countries must pressure the Zionist regime into signing the NPT, he said.

The Iranian ambassador went on to say that Israel has a long record of committing criminal acts against people around the world and has had a hand in the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, so it can be called a cancerous tumor in the region.

Consequences of Iran attack devastating for Israel

Elsewhere in his remarks, Khazaii commented on the Zionist regime's threats of military action against Iran, saying it seems that they will not carry out their threats.

The consequences would be "devastating" for Israel and maybe for whoever helps them, he added.

Iran's policy is to avoid committing an aggression against other countries, but if an action is taken against Iran's interests or its nuclear facilities, the Islamic Republic will definitely defend itself with all its strength, Khazaii commented.

He also said that Iran's nuclear program does not have military dimensions and that the proposal for the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East was first made by the Islamic Republic.

Iran to block Strait of Hormuz if attacked

On Iran's threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, Khazaii said that the Islamic Republic does not intend to use the waterway to engage in a war with other countries unless Iran's positions come under attack.

[Sulla Felix]

"Iran is ready to hold serious talks without preconditions, he added."

Wow that's rich! Got to be right up there with "pull my finger."

[netjunkie1]

They have the means to start a war with massive potential. Is that what you are willing to live with?
Maybe they haven't terrorized the US, but they have a record of doing so worldwide.
Even as recently as a couple days ago when the terrorist fouled up his mission.
Now they have evidence that Iran has it's hands dirty...
They have 1/2 a terrorist to interrogate.

[ImAK47]

Sound like WMD's of Iraq!