Bush Suspicious Of Iran Nuke Labs

New Report Of Massive Capabilities; Atomic Watchdog Assesses Iran

(CBS/AP)  Jafarzadeh, who runs Strategic Policy Consulting, a Washington-based think tank focusing on Iran and Iraq, said the information — which he described as "very recent" — came from sources within the Tehran regime who have proven accurate in the past.

His claims could not be independently verified. The IAEA was taking the allegation "seriously" and will investigate "should we find anything credible contained within it," spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said.

In Tehran, Ali Hafezi, spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told AP Tuesday that the IAEA had been given a full disclosure of Tehran's nuclear program, including the number of centrifuges. He would not say how many centrifuges Iran has.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said he was hopeful the standoff could be resolved.

"The board will request Iran to reconsider its decision to unravel a part of the suspension," ElBaradei told reporters. "The important thing for me at the end of the day is to go back to the negotiating process and avoid any escalation of the situation."

Tehran, which had agreed to suspend nuclear activities in November, insists its nuclear program is peaceful, but Washington accuses it of covertly trying to build a weapon.

Under the agreement, Iran had pledged to stop building centrifuges, which can be used to enrich uranium to levels high enough to fuel a nuclear weapon. Centrifuges also can be used for the peaceful generation of nuclear energy; uranium enriched to lower levels is used to produce electricity.

Iran resumed work at Isfahan after IAEA inspectors installed cameras and other surveillance equipment intended to ensure no nuclear material is diverted. But ElBaradei said the surveillance equipment had not yet been tested.

The agency previously had said it was aware of the existence of 164 centrifuges at Natanz, 300 miles south of Tehran.

"These 4,000 centrifuge machines have not been declared to the IAEA, and the regime has kept the production of these machines hidden from the inspectors while the negotiations with the European Union have been going on over the past 21 months," Jafarzadeh said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Washington.

Officials in Washington would not directly answer questions about whether the United States intends to push for sanctions now. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli did say that Iran was "thumbing its nose at a productive approach."

"Washington would like to see a U.N. Security Council resolution with a trigger mechanism that would impose sanctions if Iran does not stick to its agreements," CBS analyst Falk said. "But both the EU-3 and the U.S. want to make an agreement that would keep Russia and China on board."

Iran has insisted it has the right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to carry out the entire fuel cycle — from raw uranium to fuel for a reactor. Europe fears that if Iran can develop fuel on its own, it will secretly produce material for a bomb.