Claim: Iran Hid Huge Nuke Ability

Dissident Says Tehran Has Hidden 4,000 Centrifuges

(AP)  Iran has manufactured about 4,000 centrifuges capable of enriching uranium to weapons grade, an exiled Iranian dissident who helped uncover nearly two decades of covert nuclear activity in 2002 said Tuesday.

Alireza Jafarzadeh told The Associated Press the centrifuges — which he said are unknown to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency — are ready to be installed at Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz.

None of Jafarzadeh's claims could be independently verified immediately.

Meanwhile, diplomats gathered Tuesday for an emergency meeting of the U.N. nuclear agency to assess Iran's resumption of uranium conversion, but the agency appeared unlikely to report Tehran to the U.N. Security Council.

Iran on Monday restarted some uranium conversion activities at its nuclear plant at Isfahan after suspending them in November following an agreement with Britain, France and Germany and appeals by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.

The three European Union countries have been negotiating with Iran in an attempt to persuade the country to drop its uranium enrichment program and related activities in return for incentives. Their latest offer was rejected last weekend by Tehran.

The three EU countries called Tuesday's emergency meeting of the IAEA's board of governors after Tehran announced plans to resume conversion, the process preceding enrichment. Highly enriched uranium can be used to make weapons; uranium enriched to lower levels is used to produce electricity.

Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, but Washington accuses Tehran of covertly trying to build an atomic weapon.

The 35-nation IAEA board could report Iran to the Security Council, which in turn could impose economic or political sanctions. However, a Western diplomat close to the agency said it did not appear that the board was ready to take that step.

Jafarzadeh, the source of the new claims 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.

The IAEA did not immediately comment on the centrifuge allegations. The agency previously had said it was aware of the existence of 164 centrifuges at Natanz, 300 miles south of Tehran.

Iran also did not immediately comment on the Jafarzadeh's claims.

Under an agreement with the IAEA, 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, which Iran insists is its only intention. The United States contends the country is running a covert effort to produce nuclear weapons.

"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 in a telephone interview.