Iran ups nuclear brinkmanship
Iran has increased the brinkmanship over its disputed nuclear programme, abruptly postponing talks with Moscow on a plan to enrich Tehran’s uranium on Russian territory to allay fears it is building an atomic weapon.
Diplomats in Europe said Iran had started small-scale enrichment of uranium, a process that can produce fuel for an atomic bomb.
“Uranium gas has been fed into three machines,” said a senior diplomat in Vienna, Austria, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment on the matter. Another diplomat confirmed that limited enrichment had begun at Iran’s Natanz site.
State-run Iranian television later reported that Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the national security and foreign relations committee in parliament, said the country had begun peaceful nuclear enrichment activities yesterday. Boroujerdi said inspectors from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency were present.
The talks with Russia had been scheduled for Thursday but were postponed indefinitely because of the “new situation,” said Iranian presidential spokesman Gholamhossein Elham. He was referring to the IAEA’s decision this month to report Iran to the UN Security Council because of uncertainty over its nuclear intentions.
Iran maintains its nuclear programme is designed solely to generate electricity, but the US and some US allies claim the program is a cover for producing an atomic bomb.
Moscow had proposed that Iran ship its uranium to Russia, where it would be enriched to a level suitable for nuclear reactors. It would then be returned to Iran for use at the Russian-built Bushehr plant, which is due to begin operating this year.
The plan, backed by the US and the European Union, was an attempt to avoid international objections to Iranian uranium enrichment by providing oversight so no weapons would be made. Iran had said the plan did not fulfil its requirements but was worth pursuing.
Despite resumption of enrichment, uranium gas must be fed into hundreds of centrifuges to produce significant amounts of enriched uranium, which - depending on the degree of processing – can be used for civilian nuclear reactors or warheads.
Iran is years away from running the 50,000 centrifuges it says it wants to operate as a source of fuel for its Bushehr plant.
But even small-scale enrichment is significant because it represents symbolic determination by Tehran to go ahead with a technology that most nations want it to give up because of fears of misuse.
Also yesterday, Tehran issued its third veiled threat in as many days to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
If the international community does not agree to Iran’s right to enrich uranium under the NPT, “there is no reason to continue our current nuclear policy while we are deprived of the positive aspects of the treaty,” said a spokesman for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the NPT allows Iran to develop nuclear energy but not weapons.
“I think the rules are very clear, Iran can develop peaceful ... uses of nuclear energy but not (a) nuclear bomb, and this is what the whole debate is about,” Annan told CNN.
North Korea – the world’s other major proliferation concern – quit the treaty in January 2003, just a few months before US officials announced that the North had told them it had nuclear weapons and may test, export or use them depending on US actions.
Iran had warned it would resume large-scale enrichment of uranium after it was reported February 4 to the UN Security Council by the 35-nation IAEA board. The resolution indirectly linked the referral to breaches of the treaty and concerns that Tehran’s activities represented a threat to world peace.
The IAEA is to issue a report on Iran at its March meeting. After that, the Security Council is expected to consider taking steps against the country.
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