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Iran begins small scale uranian enrichment { February 14 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/14/AR2006021400367.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/14/AR2006021400367.html
Iran Begins Small-Scale Uranium Enrichment
By Molly Moore and Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, February 14, 2006; 6:39 AM
PARIS, Feb. 14 -- Iran stated Tuesday that it has begun small-scale uranium enrichment, an initial step in the long process toward making civilian fuel or nuclear weapons, Western.
"The order to resume uranium enrichment has been issued and, in accordance with that, the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation has restarted the process," deputy nuclear negotiator Javad Vaeedi told reporters, according to the Associated Press and Reuters news agency.
However, Vaeedi said Iran would not be able to reach industrial-scale production of atomic fuel quickly.
"We need some time to reach that level with all centrifuges because of the 2 1/2 year suspension. However, the preliminary phases have been launched," he said. Centrifuges enrich uranium by spinning it at supersonic speed.
If true, an Iranian decision to restart its uranium enrichment program would represent a direct challenge to the international community, just over a week after the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency demanded that Iran suspend all "enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development."
Some Vienna-based diplomats said Iran had begun placing uranium gas into a few centrifuges that are used for uranium enrichment. The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said their information was based on private statements by Iranian officials rather than actual evidence.
Inspectors from the IAEA are scheduled to visit Iran's Natanz enrichment facility Tuesday to assess its research activities in the face of mounting tensions between Tehran and the international community, diplomats said.
The IAEA board, which includes all five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, reported "serious concerns" about Iran's nuclear intentions to the Security Council on Feb 4. But the board delayed deciding whether to formally refer Iran to the council for action until a March 6 meeting, in hopes that Iran would back down from threats to restart its nuclear enrichment program.
Some Vienna-based diplomats said reports that Iran had taken the first steps of placing uranium gas into centrifuges had not been substantiated because monitors had not yet inspected the enrichment site.
A State Department spokesman in Washington said Monday that the U.S. government was waiting for confirmation from the IAEA that the reported start-up of uranium enrichment was true.
"We'll have to wait until we . . . have the facts," said the spokesman, Sean McCormack. "But if true, certainly, it would be another indication that Iran is seeking confrontation rather than negotiation with the international community."
McCormack noted that the IAEA resolution said Iran "had to return to a suspension moratorium of all their enrichment-related activities. And unfortunately, they seem to have now, apparently, gone off in the other direction. . . . It would seem to be a step in the direction of further isolating the Iranian people from the rest of the world."
In the days since the IAEA vote, Iranian officials have threatened to restart uranium enrichment research but until Tuesday, had not announced that the work has begun.
On Monday, Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters in Tehran that Iran "will not wait for the IAEA meeting on March 6th to resume enrichment."
He also said Iran had postponed indefinitely a meeting with Russian officials, scheduled for Thursday, to discuss the stalemate over international demands that Iran refrain from any uranium enrichment efforts.
Russia has offered to enrich uranium for Iran on Russian soil, a compromise that would permit Iran access to enriched uranium but prevent it from becoming engaged in one of the most sensitive steps of the nuclear fuel production cycle.
McCormack said that the Russian offer "remains on the table" and that the international community is "interested in seeing Iran get back to the negotiating table, but it has certain commitments that it has to fulfill in order to demonstrate to the world that it is serious about seeking compromise."
Even if it has begun the enrichment process, experts said, Iran remains years away from the ability to produce nuclear weapons. Rather, they said, the action would represent a symbolic defiance of international threats against Iran.
"If they have introduced nuclear material, it shows they mean business," said one Western diplomat in Vienna.
On Saturday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned in a televised speech that Iran would consider withdrawing from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the international community attempted to stop what Iran maintains is a civilian nuclear energy program.
"The Islamic Republic has continued its program within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Non-Proliferation Treaty," Ahmadinejad said in a speech commemorating the 27th anniversary of the Islamic revolution. "But if we see that you want to use the NPT regulations to deprive us of our rights, know that the people will revise their policy in this regard."
The next day, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi appeared to back away from the president's threat, saying at his weekly news conference, "We are committed to our commitments within the NPT," according to the official IRNA news agency.
He added, "But we cannot accept that the treaty is used as a political instrument."
Fred Barbash reported from Washington. Staff writer Glenn Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
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