Global Security Newswire

Iran has launched uranium refinement operations at its fortified Qum facility, following through on plans the Middle Eastern state announced last year to relocate its production of material that could more rapidly be converted to nuclear-weapon fuel, diplomatic officials told the Associated Press on Monday (see GSN, Jan. 6).

Iran was enriching uranium to 20 percent with 348 operating centrifuges arranged in two "cascades," and construction of two additional centrifuge assemblies was nearly complete, two diplomats said, referring to findings from an International Atomic Energy Agency audit of the Qum facility last week. The machines were apparently of an older type employed widely at the nation's Natanz complex, rather than higher-speed experimental models.

Iran in 2010 began generating the higher-enriched uranium at the Natanz site, ostensibly to fuel a medical isotope production reactor.

The conservative Iranian newspaper Kaynan broke news of the enrichment launch on Sunday, one day after Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Fereidoun Abbasi said the effort would start "soon." The conflicting updates might point to a split among Iranian leaders over how candidly the nation should communicate its atomic progress as other countries act to bolster economic pressure on Tehran, the envoys told AP. The United States and its allies fear Iran's atomic activities are geared toward weapons development, despite Tehran's assurances to the contrary.

Abbasi on Sunday said "the enemy doesn't have the ability to damage" the Qum site. Air defense interceptors and Iran's Revolutionary Guard are providing security for the subterranean installation.

Tehran has determined it would block the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the shipment of Middle Eastern petroleum, in retaliation to a possible embargo on Iranian oil, the Khorasan newspaper quoted a high-level Revolutionary Guard officer as saying. The European Union could formalize such an import ban this month.

"The supreme authorities ... have insisted that if enemies block the export of our oil, we won't allow a drop of oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. This is the strategy of the Islamic republic in countering such threats," said Revolutionary Guard deputy head Ali Ashraf Nouri. The remarks marked the most direct warning on the matter to date by a senior Iranian defense official, according to AP (George Jahn, Associated Press/Google News, Jan. 9).

Iran was practicing to block the strait when it conducted 10 days of practice naval maneuvers in late December and early January, Nouri reportedly stated (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press II/Google News, Jan. 8).

The United States is prepared to act if Iran moves to cut off the waterway to oil transport, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said on Sunday (see related GSN story, today; Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 8).

A blueprint under discussion by Western governments last week would seek to meet petroleum demands using reserve oil if Iran obstructed the strait, Reuters on Friday quoted envoys and energy sector insiders as saying.

Leaders of the International Energy Agency, which consults with 28 governments, on Thursday conferred over the possible delivery each day of 14 million barrels of state-controlled petroleum from areas including Europe, Japan and the United States. Such supplies could last for as long as one month under the projection.

"This would form a necessary and sensible response to a closure of the strait," one European envoy said. "It wouldn't take long to put in place if it was required ... and would be unlikely to prove controversial amongst the (IEA) membership" (Mackey/Mably, Reuters I, Jan. 6).

The British warship HMS Daring is set to depart for the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, the London Telegraph reported. Deemed the most powerful ship in the British navy, the Daring has reportedly been upgraded with systems capable of destroying any existing Iranian missile (Thomas Harding, London Telegraph, Jan. 6).

Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi brushed off the planned deployment as "unimportant," Iran's Mehr News Agency reported (Mehr News Agency, Jan. 8).

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday urged Iran and Western nations to seek a nonviolent solution to the standoff, Agence France-Presse reported.

The opposing parties should “do their best to first of all defuse the tension in the region, and try to resolve all issues, differences of opinion, through dialogue, in peaceful means,” Ban said.

“At the same time Iran should fully comply with the relevant resolutions of the Security Council,” he said. The body has adopted four sanctions measures demanding that Tehran end its uranium refinement efforts (Agence France-Presse I/Dawn, Jan. 7).

Separately, three Iranian defense officials traveled to North Korea in November for talks that appeared to address collaboration on uranium enrichment centrifuge systems, a Western diplomatic official told Kyodo News on Saturday. North Korean army General Staff chief Ri Yong Ho reportedly took part in the meeting.

The visiting team of Iranian Defense Ministry and Armed Forces Logistics personnel was thought to have pursued possible means of obscuring their country's ties with North Korea as well as international shipment routes in light of an IAEA safeguards report issued in November (see GSN, Nov. 9, 2011).

The Iranian Embassy in Tokyo rejected allegations over such a meeting, stating that Tehran "does not have any kind of cooperation with [North Korea] in nuclear or military technology fields" (Kyodo News/Mainichi Daily News, Jan. 9).

Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Sunday departed for China and Japan to make the case for harsher economic steps against Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported. Both countries import significant amounts of Iranian oil (Sudeep Reddy, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 8).

Beijing on Monday said the atomic standoff should have no bearing on economic relations, AP reported.

“The normal trade relations and energy cooperation between China and Iran have nothing to do with the nuclear issue,” Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said. “We should not mix issues with different natures, and China’s legitimate concerns and demands should be respected” (Associated Press III/Washington Post, Jan. 9).

Iran will not succumb to international economic steps targeting its atomic program, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday.

"The Iranian nation believes in their rulers. ... Sanctions imposed on Iran by our enemies will not have any impact on our nation," Reuters quoted Khamenei, who wields the final word on all Iranian political decisions, as saying in a televised statement.

"Sanctions will not change our nation's determination," he said. "The Islamic establishment ... knows firmly what it is doing and has chosen its path and will stay the course" (Parisa Hafezi, Reuters II, Jan. 9).

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday traveled to Venezuela, the first stop on a five-day trip also slated to include visits to Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador, AFP reported.

The Obama administration on Friday pressed nations in Latin America to forswear stronger relations with Tehran.

"As the regime feels increasing pressure, it is desperate for friends and flailing around in interesting places to find new friends," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said (Agence France-Presse II/Google News, Jan. 8).

Elsewhere, Abbasi on Saturday said Iran was ready to carry out atomic work on behalf of countries in Africa and elsewhere, the nation's Fars News Agency reported.

"At present we are capable of exporting nuclear services to the friendly countries in Africa which own considerable uranium resources," the Iranian nuclear chief said (Fars News Agency, Jan. 7).

Tehran's Bushehr atomic energy facility is set to within weeks to achieve its maximum output, CNN quoted him as saying (CNN, Jan. 7).

Separately, Iran on Monday indicated it had issued the death sentence to a U.S.-born man for acting as a CIA informant, Reuters reported.

Amir Hekmati, 28, was detained last month. It was unclear when Iran's top court would complete a mandatory review of his case (Parisa Hafezi, Reuters III, Jan. 9).