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Iran holds enough uranium for bomb

Iran holds enough uranium for bomb
By Daniel Dombey in Washington

Published: February 19 2009 21:18 | Last updated: February 20 2009 00:51

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f367aada-f...077b07658.html

Quote:

Iran has built up a stockpile of enough enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb, United Nations officials acknowledged on Thursday.

In a development that comes as the Obama administration is drawing up its policy on negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear programme, UN officials said Iran had produced more nuclear material than previously thought.

They said Iran had accumulated more than one tonne of low enriched uranium hexafluoride at a facility in Natanz.

If such a quantity were further enriched it could produce more than 20kg of fissile material – enough for a bomb.

“It appears that Iran has walked right up to the threshold of having enough low enriched uranium to provide enough raw material for a single bomb,” said Peter Zimmerman, a former chief scientist of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency

The new figures come in a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, released on Thursday. This revealed that Iran’s production of low enriched uranium had previously been underestimated.

When the agency carried out an annual stocktaking of Natanz in mid-November Iran had produced 839kg of low enriched uranium hexafluoride – more than 200kg more than previously thought. Tehran produced an additional 171kg by the end of January.

“It’s sure certain that if they didn’t have it [enough] when the IAEA took these measurements, they will have it in a matter of weeks,” Mr Zimmerman said.

Iran’s success in reaching such a “breakout capacity” – a stage that would allow it to produce enough fissile material for a bomb in a matter of months – crosses a “red line” that for years Israel has said it would not accept.

UN officials emphasise that to produce fissile material Iran would have to reconfigure its Natanz plant to produce high enriched uranium rather than low enriched uranium – a highly visible step that would take months – or to shift its stockpile to a clandestine site.

No such sites have been proved to exist, although for decades Iran concealed evidence of its nuclear programme.

A senior UN official added that countries usually waited until they had an enriched uranium stockpile sufficient for several bombs before proceeding to develop fissile material. He conceded that Iran now had enough enriched uranium for one bomb.

“Do they have enough low enriched uranium to produce a significant quantity [enough high enriched uranium for a bomb]?” he said. “In theory this is possible, [although] with the present configuration at Natanz it isn’t.”

David Albright, the head of the Institute for Science and International Security, said: “If Iran did decide to build nuclear weapons, it’s entering an era in which it could do so quickly.”

This evening I just happened to have attended a seminar on this very issue. The following quote from the article you posted is the actuality. I am not defending Iran; I wanted the focus to be current and clear.

Do they have enough low enriched uranium to produce a significant quantity [enough high enriched uranium for a bomb]?” he said. “In theory this is possible, [although] with the present configuration at Natanz it isn’t.”

I stand correct on this issue, As of an hour ago, it has been reported that Iran grossly underestimated its stock pile of U-235.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/usTopN...51I47X20090220

Israeli Ambassador Calls for 'Serious Action' Following Iran Nuke Report

I wondered to myself how long it would take Israel to respond, I was really thinking militarily but of course applying political pressure had to come first. Didn't take them long (not that I expected anything less).

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/firs...n-nuke-report/

Quote:

Israel's ambassador to the U.S. called for "immediate and serious action" Friday after a United Nations report showed Iran has enough uranium to build a nuclear bomb.

The White House also said the international community must work together to address Iran's uranium enrichment activities, calling the rogue nation's nuclear capabilities an "urgent problem."

Israeli Ambassador Sallai Meridor, in an interview with FOXNews.com, said the report only emphasizes the threat Iran poses to the rest of the world.

"It's an extremely worrisome report. ... It emphasizes that with every day passing, Iran is getting closer to a nuclear military capacity," he said. "The world must take immediate and serious action in order to prevent this nightmare from happening."

He did not detail what those actions could entail, but said, for example, "Sanctions should be enhanced significantly."

"The only option that is not on the table is to allow Iran to get military nuclear (capabilities)," Meridor said. He said such a scenario would release a "nuclear genie" that would "endanger every society in the world."

"We are at a very, very serious and dangerous juncture to world peace," he told FOXNews.com.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the report, by the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, represented "another lost opportunity" for Iran as it continues to "renege" on its international obligations.

Gibbs called Iran an "urgent problem that has to be addressed." He says "we can't delay addressing it."

He said the international community can't have confidence in Iran's claims that the program is peaceful, and for producing energy, if it doesn't comply with the U.N.

Meanwhile, both U.S. and Israeli officials said they were optimistic about the prospects for a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, even though hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu was just tapped to put together Israel's next ruling coalition.

A coalition of right-wingers, if formed, could collide with the Obama administration and its ambitious plans for ending 60 years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

But U.S. State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said Friday that the U.S. will work with the next Israeli government however it is composed.

"We are always optimistic. We've been working on the peace process for a number of years," he said. "I think this shows determination by the United States to continue to work for a two-state solution in the Middle East and to help bring stability to the region."

Covert Action and Iran's Nuclear Program

http://bellum.stanfordreview.org/?p=286

It is possible that Iran, with this weapons program and this new development, is a step closer to bringing about the "favorable conditions" for the return of the hidden imam.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3...ts-a-bomb.html

http://www.iranian.ws/cgi-bin/iran_n...ew.cgi/9/15612

اینشاالله این صورت نمی گرد

'Israel is mulling Iran military action'

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull

Russian's economic stimulus plan to either gain leverage or increase oil revenue?