-

UN Admits

-

Iran Now Has

-

Nuclear Weapons Capability

-

Enough Uranium for a Bomb

-

-

(A-O Newswire) -- The UN's nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency released a new report on Thursday showing that Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium had reached a level of quanitity capable of being turned into an a nuclear weapon.

The news comes as the Obama Administration fashions a new round of diplomatic efforts to halt Iran's nuclear program. UN officials admitted in the report that Iran was processing uranium far faster than they had believed possible. When the agency carried out an annual inventory of nuclear materials at Iran's Natanz facility in mid-November, Iran had produced 839 kg of low enriched uranium hexafluoride – more than 200kg more than previously thought. Tehran then produced an additional 171 kg by the end of January.

Peter Zimmerman, a former chief scientist of teh US Arms Control and Disarmement Agency responded to the news by stating, “It appears that Iran has walked right up to the threshold of having enough low enriched uranium to provide enough raw material for a single bomb.“It’s sure as hell certain that if they didn’t have it [enough] when the IAEA took these measurements, they will have it in a matter of weeks."

The UN report signals a new threshold in the ongoing nuclear crisis between Iran and the world as Iran is now regarded as having reached a "breakout capacity." A breakout capacity is a stage that would enable Iran to produce enough fissile material for a bomb in a matter of months and thus, Iran now has crossed a "Red Line" that for years, Israel has said it would not accept.

UN officials did note in their report that Iran would have to reconfigure its Natanz plant to produce highly enriched uranium rather than low enriched uranium which is a highly visible step that would take months, or to otherwise shift its stockpile to another clandestine site, which some analysts believe Iran has ready for a new stage of operations. Such a facility is thought by many to be buried deep underground in a nearby mountain complex that is believed to be invulnerable to any normal airstrike. In fact, some believe that only a major nuclear strike could damage or destroy such a facility.

One senior UN official noted that newly developing nuclear nations usually wait until they have accumulated a stockpile of low enriched uranium to make several bombs before switching over to high enrichment production.

David Albright, the head of the Institute for Science and International Security, said: ““If Iran did decide to build nuclear weapons, it’s entering an era in which it could do so quickly. "If they break out they will do it at a clandestine facility, not at Natanz, so you can't use Natanz as a measure of how fast they could do it. The Iranians have stopped telling the IAEA about the production of centrifuges … so the agency doesn't know how many they are making."

The UN report also claimed that Iran was slowly down its nuclear production, but at the same time admitted that at least 1,500 more centrifuges were nearly ready to join the 4,000 centrifuges already operational. This additional amount of centrifuges raises Iran's capacity by more than 1/3rd. IAEA officials also noted that Iran still refuses to fully cooperate with UN inspections. For follow up confirmation on the details of this story, LINK HERE.  Second story, LINK HERE.

+++++

US Response To UN Report

LINK

+++++

 

-

-

-

-

-

-