The International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday began processing detailed information on Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility to better understand its current capabilities and past activities, the Financial Times reported (see GSN, March 10).

News accounts yesterday reported that Iran’s uranium enrichment capability is much more advanced than previously thought.

“We are expecting to receive design details of the plant,” the IAEA said yesterday.  “We have gathered a lot of information and we are analyzing it,” the organization added.

IAEA officials also plan to investigate allegations that Iran has another, undeclared uranium enrichment facility, according to the Times.

Tehran has said that it has not enriched uranium during centrifuge testing, but that assertion is most likely untrue, according to David Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington nonproliferation research organization.

U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell recently criticized IAEA efforts to monitor nuclear weapons development in the region.  U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that Washington has been urging Russia and Pakistan to avoid helping Iran develop its alleged nuclear weapons effort.  Boucher said that Pakistan “takes this responsibility seriously” (Dinmore/Cookson, Financial Times, March 11).

Washington Alleges Nuclear Weapons

Iranian officials said again that Tehran is developing its nuclear facilities for civilian energy needs, but Washington challenged those claims.  U.S. officials have said Iran’s extensive gas and oil resources undermine any suggestion of a need to develop domestic nuclear energy.

“We completely reject Iran’s claim that it is doing so for peaceful purposes,” said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (Associated Press/Boston Globe, March 11).

Iran, however, said nuclear power would allow it to sell more oil.

“If we develop our nuclear power sector, we will be able to increase our oil exports and, consequently, earn more,” said Kamal Kharrazi, the Iranian foreign minister (Interfax news agency/BBC Monitoring, March 11).

Iranian officials said Washington is souring Tehran’s relationship with the IAEA.

“Iran’s nuclear program is in accordance with realities and in our opinion the United States tries to thwart the constructive cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency,” said Hamid Reza Asefi, a Foreign Ministry spokesman (Modher Amin, United Press International, March 10).

Bushehr Fuel to Arrive in May

Russia is scheduled to deliver 80 metric tons of uranium in May to power Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power reactor, set to begin operating in the second half of next year, according to Assadollah Saburi, deputy head of Iran’s national atomic agency.

“The reactor and peripheral equipment have been installed and the first phase of the plant is to be completed in the next year,” he said today.  “At the moment more than 1,000 technicians are working at the site,” he added (Agence France-Presse, March 11).

Russia supported Iran’s efforts to develop nuclear power.

“Establishing a balance between energy sources is the sovereign right of any country,” said Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, visiting Tehran.

“Nevertheless, it was important for us to obtain first-hand information about plans for the development of the nuclear power sector for peaceful purposes,” he added (Interfax news agency/BBC Monitoring, March 11).

Saburi said that Tehran is not planning to sign an additional protocol to Iran’s IAEA safeguards agreement (see GSN, Feb. 24).  The protocol would place “new restrictions” on Iran’s nuclear efforts, which are already facing “all sorts of obstacles,” he said (Agence France-Presse, March 11).

Nuclear Weapons to Counter Israel

Meanwhile, Iranian officials have asserted that Iran has the right to develop nuclear weapons to counter Israel, the Washington Post reported today.

“Are nuclear weapons bad?” asked Amir Mohebian, an adviser to Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.  “Why don’t you make the same protest against Israel?” he added.

Members of the reformist party that controls Iran’s Parliament shared Mohebian’s sentiment.

“It’s basically a matter of equilibrium,” said Mostafa Tajzadeh, a leading theorist in the reformist party.  “On the one hand Israel says, ‘If I don’t have it, I don’t have security.’  And we say, ‘As long as Israel has it, we don’t have security.’  We believe the way to deal with Israel’s expansionism is to democratize the region,” he added.

“But while things are the way they are, public opinion in Muslim countries, and in Iran, is not going to be against having nuclear weapons,” Tajzadeh said (Karl Vick, Washington Post, March 11).

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