U.N. Agency: Iran's Nuke Capacity Unclear

IAEA Head Accuses Tehran of Stonewalling Its Monitoring Of Nuclear Activities

(AP)  The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned Monday that he cannot determine whether Iran is hiding some nuclear activities, comments that appeared to reflect a high level of frustration with stonewalling of his investigators.

IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran's stonewalling of his agency was a "serious concern."

"Iran needs to give the agency substantive information" to clear up suspicions, he said at the start of a 35-nation board IAEA meeting, in comments made available to reporters.

Diplomats at the gathering described ElBaradei's comments as unusually blunt.

ElBaradei rejected the Iranian suggestion that the IAEA probe could expose non-nuclear military secrets, saying the IAEA "does not in any way seek to 'pry' into Iran's conventional or missile-related military activities."

"We need, however, to make use of all relevant information to be able to confirm that no nuclear material is being used for nuclear weapons purposes," he said, urging Iran to "implement all measures required to build confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program at the earliest possible date."

If Tehran fails to do so, the IAEA "will not be able to provide credible assurances about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran," he said.

A senior Iranian envoy accused the United States of trying to use the IAEA as a tool in Washington's confrontation with Tehran. Iran, he said, has demonstrated full cooperation with the agency. Allegations of nuclear weapons work by Tehran is based on forged documents and the issue is closed, the envoy said.

With time running out before Tehran develops potential nuclear weapons capacity, some worry that Israel or the U.S. might resort to military strikes if they believe all diplomatic options have been exhausted.

And with Tehran showing no signs of giving up uranium enrichment or heeding other international demands, the diplomatic window appears to be closing.

Outside the meeting, an indignant Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, the chief Iranian delegate to the IAEA, rejected suggestions his country was hiding something, and accused Washington of hijacking the agency for an anti-Iran campaign.

"The international community and all member states of the IAEA are frustrated with this kind of United States actions in the IAEA," he told reporters. "The Americans are every day isolating themselves.

"Iran is of course very advanced in missile activities and technology," he said. "But there is no activity at all related to nuclear weapons."

Ahead of the meeting, hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that Iran's military will "break the hand" of anyone targeting the country's nuclear facilities.

Iran insists its nuclear activities are geared only toward generating power. But Israel says the Islamic Republic could have enough nuclear material to make its first bomb within a year. The U.S. estimates Tehran is at least two years away from that stage.

Physicist and former U.N. nuclear inspector David Albright says says Tehran could reach weapons capacity in as little as 6 months through uranium enrichment.

An IAEA report drawn up for the IAEA board meeting says that Tehran has increased the number of centrifuges used to process uranium to nearly 4,000 from 3,000 just a few months ago.

But Albright, whose Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security closely tracks suspect secret proliferators, says he has also been able to extrapolate other information from the report that is less obvious but of at least equal concern.

Iran, he says, has managed to iron out most of the bugs in the intensely complicated process of enrichment that often saw the centrifuges breaking down. The machines, he says "now appear to be running at approximately 85 percent of their stated target capacity, a significant increase over previous rates."

That, he says means, they can produce more enriched uranium faster. And while the IAEA says that the machines have spewed out only low-enriched material suitable solely for nuclear fuel, producing enough of that can make it easy to "break out" quickly by reprocessing it to weapons- grade uranium suitable for the fissile core of a warhead.

To date, Iran has produced nearly 1,000 pounds of low-enriched uranium, said the report - close to what Albright says is the 1,500-pound minimum needed to produce the 45-60 pounds needed for a simple nuclear bomb under optimal conditions.

And with Iran's centrifuges running ever more smoothly, it "is progressing toward this capability and can be expected to reach it in six months to two years," says Albright.

Additional work - making a crude bomb to contain the uranium - would take no more than a "several months," he said.

But that work could be done secretly and consecutively with the last stages of weapons-grade enrichment. With Iran limiting access of IAEA inspectors to facilities it has declared to the agency, the U.N. nuclear monitor is blind-sided in efforts to establish whether such covert atomic work is going on.

[souljam76]

Iran is as bad as North Korea. & the United States needs to do something to these two Nuclear countries

[impeach__w]

What is the problem with a nuclear isreal attacking a non-nuclear Iran? Go for it!

"An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous regularity"

Walt Whitman

Thank you whoever posted that.

[secundus2]

The parallel to Iraq is alarming. It was never up to the US to prove Saddam had kept his WMD''s. It was Saddam''s responsibility under the armistice of Gulf War I and UN resolutions to prove he had not kept such weapons.

Iran now refuses to to provide the IAEA what it must provide under the nuclear non-proliferation treaties it signed and various UN resolutions. The international community needs to stop the Iranians before a regional war breaks out between a nuclear Israel and a nuclear-seeking Iran whose president calls for Israel''s destruction.

The UN issued lots of ultimatums to Iraq, but did nothing except facilitate the food-for-oil swindle. The case of Iran may be a more crucial test for it and other international organizations and alliances.
And the time limit seems to be six months to a year.

[impeach__w]

Stupid iranians don''t even realize we let them ship defective centifuges and other tampered with control equipment. Isreal will be bombing this behind schedule project too. 85% is the best you can do? Good luck with that!

[babooph]

Seems the same thing was said about Iraq -they looked everywhere-found nothing,so we went to war.

[juwboy]

ndtobeloved (3.16PM):

"Sovet Union"????

The Soviet Union ceased to exist almost 20 years ago.

Why don`t you spend some time keeping up with current events instead of wasting ours with your ignorant opinions?

[yongamerica]

Maybe Iran will be the catalyst for the Armageddon that Sarah Palin and George Bush both anticipate will happen within a decade.

So you want Sarah to be the one to answer the red phone late at night?

[a039426]

NO MATTER HOW HARD PEOPLE TRY TO AVOID THIS NUKE THING THE GOVERNMENTS WILL GATHER THESE THINGS AND WILL DESTROY OTHERS AND THEM SELVES !!!!!!! IRAN WILL BE DSETROYED AMERICA WILL BE DESTROYED BUT THE TIME NOBODY CAN TELL

[ajmarine111]

Outside the meeting, an indignant Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, the chief Iranian delegate to the IAEA, rejected suggestions his country was hiding something, and accused Washington of hijacking the agency for an anti-Iran campaign.

"The international community and all member states of the IAEA are frustrated with this kind of United States actions in the IAEA," he told reporters. "The Americans are every day isolating themselves.

"Iran is of course very advanced in missile activities and technology," he said. "But there is no activity at all related to nuclear weapons."






TEHRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that Iran%u2019s military will %u201Cbreak the hand%u201D of anyone targeting his country%u2019s nuclear facilities.

The president spoke during a military parade displaying various types of Iranian-made missiles, including Shahab-3 and Ghadr. Also taking part in the parade was a military truck carrying a huge banner saying %u201CIsrael should be eliminated from the universe%u201D in both English and Farsi



http://arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=114641&d=22&m=9&y=2008

[ndtobeloved]

Indea has them Pacistan has them Isreal, north Korea, China and Iran is next. The race is on whos going to pull the triger first? Will it be the U. S., Frace, The Sovet Union, Briton Who will shoot first. It dosnt matter the end of days is so close its just a matter of time. so we''ll see you in he11 boys and girls

[tonyb-d-bing]

WARNING TO THE WHOLE WORLD!
WAKE UP EVERYBODY!

THE LEADERS OF IRAN ARE SICK PRIMITIVE @SSHOLES!

IRAN IS TRYING TO DESTROY THE WHOLE WORLD!!!

ALL OF THE WORLD COUNTRIES SHOULD ATTACK IRAN AND ITS NUCLEAR REACTORS WITH FULL FORCE BEFORE IT''S TOO LATE!!!

[tonyb-d-bing]

THIS IS A WARNING TO THE WHILE WORLD
And you better all listen!

This Iran is gonna destroy the world with its nuclear bombs. The world better know that these savage, hatemen mentalcases who rule Iran are not working in the best interests of the world''s people!!!
All they want to do is force the whole world into being Moslems and force a HOLY WAR!!!

THE WHOLE WORLD MUST STOP IRAN BY OUR ARMIES, NAVIES AND AIR FORCES NOW BEFORE IT HAS NUKE BOMBS!!!

TAKE OUT IRAN''S NUCLEAR REACTORS NOW OR IRAN WILL SOON DESTROY ALL OF US!!!

[breceivemail]

This is the new acting of republicans for cheating Americans. They want to dissemble their failure in Iraq and Afghanistan. They want to dissemble the depression and inflation.