Iran readies uranium for enrichment: Diplomats

Iran denied the information, which was confirmed by multiple diplomatic sources in Vienna.

“This is a sheer lie. I strongly reject it. In the contrary, Iran is preparing itself to suspend production of UF6,” Iran’s top IAEA delegate Hossein Mousavian told Reuters in Tehran.

The apparent hasty production of large amounts of enriched uranium is bound to deepen suspicions over Iran, which Washington says is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

UF6 is the form of uranium that is fed into gas centrifuges,which purify uranium for use as fuel in nuclear power plants or weapons, by spinning at supersonic speeds.

“The Iranians have produced some UF6 gas,” said a Western diplomat close to the IAEA. “The EU three are apparently not too fazed by this.” Iran had promised the European Union after talks with Britain, France and Germany that it would freeze enrichment and all related activities as of Nov 22.

IAEA Chief Mohamed Elbaradei said on Monday in a report on his two-year investigation of Iran’s nuclear programme that Tehran had not diverted any of its declared nuclear materials to a weapons programme.