Global Security Newswire

Satellite imagery indicates that Iran began work on its recently acknowledged Qum uranium enrichment facility in 2002, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 12).

Iran suspended construction at the yet-unfinished site between 2004 and 2006, possibly attempting to prevent the international community from discovering the complex, according to AP. Over the same period, the Middle Eastern state had suspended operations at its primary enrichment site at Natanz amid negotiations with world powers, diplomats said.

While the Qum site appears too small to host enough enrichment centrifuges to produce low-enriched nuclear power plant fuel in significant quantities, the facility might have been intended to house a smaller number of high-speed machines to generate weapon-grade uranium, according to one high-level European diplomat. Western nations have long suspected that Iran's enrichment program is geared toward producing nuclear-weapon material, but Tehran has insisted the effort has strictly civilian aims.

Technical problems with the aging centrifuges at Iran's Natanz facility have probably prevented the nations from increasing the site's rate of enrichment for the past several months, the European diplomat said. The design of the Qum site suggests it is intended to contain a smaller number of more sophisticated devices that could more quickly produce enriched uranium.

Delegates from the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany are expected to convene next week to discuss their options on curbing Iran's disputed nuclear activities, the official added, noting that the powers would discuss the possibility of imposing new economic penalties on the Middle Eastern state (George Jahn, Associated Press/Google News, Nov. 12).

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors in Manhattan yesterday launched a bid to take control of several U.S.-based properties whose owner allegedly has ties to an Iranian bank that supports Iran's nuclear and missile work, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, Dec. 18, 2008).

Prosecutors have acquired numerous e-mails and papers suggesting that the Alavi Foundation -- which owns the properties -- is under the management of Iran's U.N. ambassador to the United Nations, an Iranian deputy prime minister and other officials affiliated with the nation's government, the U.S. Attorney's Office indicated.

A court must approve the prosecutors' bid to seize the assets, which include a Manhattan high-rise as well as a mosque, an Islamic school and other land in Maryland.

"The foundation is obviously disappointed the government decided to bring this forfeiture action," said Alavi Foundation lawyer John Winter. "We intend to litigate these claims, and we expect that when the litigation is over, we will be successful" (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Nov. 13).

Elsewhere, Iran's military chief of staff today expressed support for a U.N. proposal to enrich Iranian uranium, Agence France-Presse reported.

Under the plan put forward last month by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, France and Russia would refine much of the Middle Eastern state's low-enriched uranium for use in a Tehran medical research reactor. France, Russia and the United States indicated their support for the proposal, but Iran appeared to balk at its call for the rapid transfer of much of its uranium.

"We won't suffer from an exchange of fuel," Iranian media quoted Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi as saying. "On the contrary, in obtaining fuel enriched to 20 percent purity for the Tehran reactor, a million of our citizens will benefit from the medical treatment it can enable and we will prove at the same time the bona fides of our peaceful nuclear activities."

"The quantity of uranium enriched to 3.5 percent that will be shipped out in order to obtain the fuel is not so large as to cause damage," he said (Agence France-Presse/Google News, Nov. 13).

Turkey today indicated it could temporarily store Iranian uranium to help alleviate Tehran's concerns that the material would not be returned, Reuters reported.

"There is no problem from the side of Turkey with Iran storing its low-grade uranium in Turkey. We cannot say no," Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu yesterday discussed the possibility with ElBaradei by telephone.

Iran, though, has ruled out allowing another country to manage a large portion of its uranium stockpile (Pinar Aydinli, Reuters I, Nov. 13).

Firouzabadi also expressed frustration today with Russian delays in delivering an advanced air-defense system to Iran.

"We are unhappy with the Russian friends up north," he said. "Why don't the defensive S-300 missiles get permission to be sent for the purpose of Iran's defense, as agreed between the two countries? It has been more than six months since they should have been delivered to Iran by Russia."

"Won't the Russian strategists take into consideration Iran's geopolitical importance in the security of this country?" he asked.

Some have expressed concern that Iran could use the defenses to protect its nuclear facilities from potential airstrikes (Reuters II, Nov. 13).

Russia yesterday said no final decision has been made on the delivery, RIA Novosti reported.

"The issue of S-300 deliveries (to Iran) is still under discussion. There are some technical and other problems," said Konstantin Biryulin, deputy chief of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation.

"I do not understand why there is so much media frenzy over the deliveries of S-300 to this region. ... Russia has the right to decide on its own whether to deliver these systems to any country which is not under the U.N. Security Council's sanctions," Biryulin added.

The official also denied reports that Moscow could sell the system to Saudi Arabia instead of Iran.

"If Saudi Arabia asks us to deliver S-300s, we will consider the request without linking it to other countries. Russia has never delivered military equipment to a country while hurting the interests of another country," he said (RIA Novosti, Nov. 12).