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Iran Admits To Secret Nuke Plant

Inside Mountain Near Qom

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(A-O Report Newswire) -- Iran shocked much of the world on Friday by admitting to having a secret nuclear facility that went unreported to the UN and the IAEA for several years.  The secret plant facility is believed to be a second uranium enrichment facility that has been under construction for several years but a facility the Iranian government never declared before the UN.

The failure by Iran to declare the existence of this additional enrichment plant constitutes a major breach of the UN's nonproliferation treaty. Even plans or construction of any facility involving nuclear work is required to be declared before the UN and to come under the regular inspection of the IAEA, which is the UN's nuclear watchdog group.

Western intelligence agencies, including those of the United States, Israel, France, Britain and Germany have known about the facility for several years yet never directly confronted Iran with evidence to avoid compromising their secret sources. The second facility is located in the city of Qom about 100 miles southwest of Tehran.

Iran acknowledged for the first time the existence of the Qom facility in a letter to the IAEA that was delievered to the Agency on Monday, (9/21) The letter  noted that the facility was under construction.

The IAEA then responded to the Iranian's letter by asking Iran to quickly provide more specifics about the facility - "to assess safeguards verification requirements." The IAEA reports that Iran told the IAEA "that no nuclear material has been introduced into the facility."

It is believed that Iran admitted the existence of the facility after learning word that the U.S. and Western powers were about to submit proof as to its existence, which would have forced the IAEA to conduct an investigation into Iran's failure to admit its existence, and thus further eroding Iran's credibility with the rest of the world.

"We believe that the Iranians learned that the secrecy of the facility had been compromised," a senior White House official said Friday morning. "We've been aware of this facility for several years, building up a case so that we had very strong evidence."

Officials from the United States, France and Britain rushed to brief the IAEA in Vienna on Thursday on what they knew about the facility. U.S. officials said that detailed briefing was provided in an attempt to spark an immediate investigation by the international organization.

Confirms A-O Intel Reports

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The A-O Report has mentioned this secret facility from time to time, in the past three years, in both news coverage and analsysis citing reports from other intelligence services, think-tanks and some independent analysts. The startling admission by Iran to the existence of this facility comes as word leaked from a secret appendix to an IAEA report, which concludes that Iran has a secret nuclear weapons program and is gearing towards building a nuclear weapon in the very near future.

The Iranian announcement comes as the G-20 is meeting to consider what actions to take against Iran for its failure to cooperate and abide by UN resolutions calling for its immediate termination of uranium enrichment.

At the G-20 summit, British PM Brown declared, "We will not let this matter rest...and we are prepared to implement further and more stringent sanctions....Iran must abandon any military ambitions for its nuclear program." Brown also accused Iran of "serial deception."

French President Sarkozy responded to the Iranian revelation by angrily warning that Iran is "taking the international community on a dangerous path.." He called for a vigorous investigation by the IAEA. He also stated that the upcoming meeting on October 1 between Iran and the G-5 plus 1 must require Iran to put everything on the table and not only disclose everything but must agree to put everything on the table for discussion.

The concensus by the G-20 is that Iran has between now and December to come clean and engage in diplomacy to halt its program or face harsh economic sanctions. This suggests that Iran will be given another two months or so to meet Western demands or face harsh sanctions. It also puts Israel in an untennable position of waiting while Iran continues to stall while feverishly working to acquire its first nuclear weapon in the next few months.

Many intelligence services and analysts, including a secret IAEA report, susepct that Iran has all the necessary prerequisites including weapons-grade uranium to be building a nuclear weapon even now. There is speculation that by December, or sooner, it could have assembled its first bomb.

For more details, LINK HERE  Additional details, LINK HERE.

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