Agency: Iran rapidly expands nuke work

Associated Press

VIENNA

Iran has rapidly ramped up production of higher-grade enriched uranium over the past few months, the U.N. nuclear agency said Friday, in a confidential report that feeds concerns about how quickly the Islamic republic could produce an atomic bomb.

The International Atomic Energy Agency report also said Iran failed to give a convincing explanation about a quantity of missing uranium metal. Diplomats say the amount unaccounted for is large enough to be used for experiments in arming a nuclear missile.

Iran insists it is not interested in nuclear weapons and says its activities are meant either to generate energy or to be used for research.

But the report contained little assurances the country’s activities are purely peaceful. Instead, it also confirmed that two IAEA missions to Tehran within less than a month had failed to dent Iran’s refusal to assist an IAEA probe of suspicions the country has been working secretly on aspects of a nuclear weapons program.

The IAEA team had hoped to speak with key Iranian scientists suspected of working on the alleged weapons program, break down opposition to their plans to inspect documents related to nuclear work and secure commitments from Iranian authorities to allow future visits.

But the report said that during those two sets of talks “no agreement was reached between Iran and the agency, as major differences existed with respect to approach.”

The report obtained by The Associated Press said the agency continues to have “serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program.”

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s chief delegate to the IAEA, insisted progress was made.

Senior international officials familiar with the talks painted a different picture. One said that during the last talks, which ended Tuesday, the IAEA team gave the Iranians a 15-page document outlining their concerns, and they “went through item by item and said they were false and fabricated.”