Iran has fuel to make two n-weapons: IAEA

When Iran tentatively agreed eight months ago to ship some of its nuclear material out of the country,the White House said the deal would temporarily deprive Iran of enough fuel to make even a single weapon. But Iran delayed for months,and the figures contained in the inspectors’ report on Monday indicated that even if Iran now shipped the agreed-upon amount of nuclear material out of the country,it would retain enough for a single weapon,undercutting the US rationale for the deal.

The toughly worded report says that Iran has expanded work at one of its nuclear sites. It also describes,step by step,how inspectors have been denied access to a series of facilities,and how Iran has refused to answer inspectors’ questions on a variety of activities,including what the agency called the “possible existence” of “activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile.”

White House spokesman Michael Hammer said in a statement that the report “clearly shows Iran’s continued failure to comply with its international obligations and its sustained lack of cooperation with the IAEA.” He said the report “underscores that Iran has refused to take any of the steps required of it” by the UNSC or IAEA’s board of governors,“which are necessary to enable constructive negotiations on the future of its nuclear program.”

The inspectors reported that Iran has now produced over 5,300 pounds of low-enriched uranium,all of which would have to undergo further enrichment before it could be converted to bomb fuel.

They reported that Iran had expanded work at its Natanz site in the desert,where it is raising the level of uranium enrichment up to 20 per cent. Until recently,all of Iran’s uranium had been enriched to only 4 per cent,the level needed to run nuclear power reactors. While increasing that to 20 per cent purity does not allow Iran to build a weapon,it gets the country closer to that goal. The inspectors reported that Iran had installed a second group of centrifuges — machines that spin incredibly fast to enrich,or purify,uranium for use in bombs or reactors — which could improve its production of the 20 per cent fuel. NYT