WarSclerotic

Iran to extend nuclear enrichment – FT.com.

Iran has declared that it plans to start uranium enrichment in a highly-protected underground bunker south of Tehran in the “near future”, in a move that could seriously inflame tensions with western countries over its nuclear programme.

Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, said on Saturday that the Fordow underground site, which is near the Iranian holy city of Qom, would become operational soon and would produce enriched uranium at concentrations up to 20 per cent.

“The Fordow nuclear enrichment plant will be operational in the near future,” Mr Abbasi-Davani, said, with some Iranian media reporting that Tehran would soon have a ceremony to open the site officially.

Iran has been enriching uranium at its main site at Natanz for some years. But the US, Israel and European powers have long expressed concern that Iran might also begin uranium enrichment at the Qom site.

The Qom facility is located below a mountain in a highly-protected bunker, making it difficult, if not impossible, to attack from the air. The start of uranium enrichment at this site could, therefore, be seen by western nations as Iran reaching a point of no return with its programme.

Some western intelligence experts also believe that the Qom site has been designed ultimately to produce weapons grade uranium for a nuclear weapon.

Mr Abbasi-Davani gave no further details on when enrichment at Qom would start and did not specify how many centrifuges would be working at the site.

But Kayhan newspaper, a mouthpiece for regime hardliners, said in an editorial on Sunday that the enrichment of 20 per cent uranium began at Fordow two weeks ago, with the injection of gas into the centrifuges.

The newspaper added that the shift made the country’s nuclear programme “immune forever” against the threat of a military attack by western countries.

Iran has always insisted that its nuclear programme is aimed at providing it with civil nuclear power. But some leading western analysts believe it may be under two years away from testing a nuclear device.

The move at Qom comes amid mounting tensions between Iran and the west over plans by the US and European Union to impose sanctions on Iranian oil exports.

Since December, Iran has repeatedly threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-third of the world’s seaborne oil trade passes, should the west impose oil sanctions on Tehran. Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, Iran’s navy chief, reiterated on Sunday the country could close the Strait of Hormuz “easily”.

General Martin Dempsey, US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, acknowledged on Sunday that Iran did have the ability to block the Strait of Hormuz “for a period of time,” but added: “We’ve invested in capabilities to ensure that if that happens, we can defeat that.”

Leon Panetta, US defence secretary, said such a move would constitute a “red line” for the US, as would Iranian efforts to build a nuclear weapon. But he said while Iran was laying the groundwork for making nuclear weapons, it was not yet building a bomb.

He reiterated US concerns about a unilateral strike by Israel against Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying the action could trigger Iranian retaliation against US forces in the region.

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