Iran Nuke Program Seen Accelerating
Iran now has hundreds of centrifuges to produce enriched uranium and is moving closer to building a nuclear weapon than international authorities had previously believed.
According to published reports, the Iranian plant in question is fully operational and could begin processing weapons-grade uranium later this year.
"We have seen this week Iran has got a more aggressive nuclear program than the (International Atomic Energy Agency) thought it had," Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday on CNN. He used the reports to bolster the Bush administration's case against Iraq.
"It shows you how a determined nation that has the intent to develop a nuclear weapon can keep that development process secret from inspectors and outsiders, if they really are determined to do it, and we know that Saddam Hussein has not lost his intent," Powell said.
He did not answer directly when asked how close Iran is to building a nuclear bomb.
Time magazine reported Sunday that a nuclear power facility at Natanz in Iran is closer to enriching uranium than previously thought. The magazine said the plant has hundreds of gas centrifuges ready to produce enriched uranium that could be used in advanced nuclear weapons.
Israel destroyed an Iraqi nuclear plant in 1981, and is deeply alarmed by the development in Iran, Time reported.
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice sidestepped a question about whether Israel would be justified in attacking the Iranian plant.
"I'm not going to speculate on what might be the right thing here," Rice said. "What is the right thing is for the international community to get serious about the problems of proliferation, to recognize that there are states that are determined to try and acquire weapons of mass destruction, to deny them the means."
The Washington Post reported Monday that that location of Iran's advanced nuclear site was a shock to U.S. officials, whose intelligence had long pointed to sites in the country's south.
Iran says it is not pursuing weapons but more energy resources, a claim U.S. officials — pointing to the country's oil supplies — dismiss.
The development in Iran means that there are ongoing weapons disputes with all three countries listed in the "axis of evil" in President Bush's January 2002 State of the Union speech.
Iraq has offered partial cooperation with international inspectors and denies weapons development, North Korea has expelled weapons inspectors and boasted of weapons development, and Iran is engaged in a nuclear program whose purpose is in dispute.
However, in terms of the threat to the United States, Iran's ability to deliver any weapons it creates is almost as important and its ability to make the weapons.
According to a declassified CIA report, Iran has a large fleet of missiles but is still developing one that could reach any part of the United States. One U.S. intelligence agency believes Iran will not test and intercontinental ballistic missile until 2015.
Iran need not launch a nuclear weapon to be a threat. It is also possible the country might sell such a weapon to another country or group.