Israel Matzav

Great news: Iran still 'steadily producing' uranium

The good news is that we finally have a director general of the IAEA who takes stopping nuclear proliferation in the Arab and Muslim world as seriously as he takes it elsewhere. Yukiya Amano seems unlikely to be tolerant of nuclear proliferation by 'our Iranian brothers.' The bad news - as he tells the Washington Post - is that Iran is still 'steadily producing' uranium.

Q. Many believe that Iran carried out nuclear weapons research in the past, including work on weaponization. . . . Do you agree with this?

A. We receive information from various countries and collect information from our own sources that give us concern over the possible use of nuclear materials for military purposes - in the past and perhaps now.

How is Iran complying with the IAEA? Your last report indicated some frustration.

We ask them to declare - we ask about their activities. . . . We don't know if there are other activities outside their declaration. We are not sure if they are hiding something.

What is the next step if they are not forthcoming?

We continue to press them. If they don't [clarify], I have to report it to the [IAEA] Board of Governors. For the time being, I don't see any indication that we can make progress.

Will you say in your February report that Iran was engaged in nuclear weaponization before 2003?

We don't say that. We don't have a smoking gun. We have concerns.

Will the IAEA press for access to further locations in Iran?

Yes, this is an issue that we have been discussing. We want to know more about what they are doing. . . . But Iran does not tell us well in advance about the construction of new facilities.

How badly was Iran's centrifuge program affected by the [Stuxnet cyber] worm from 2009?

Iran is somehow producing uranium enriched to 3.5 percent and 20 percent. They are producing it steadily, constantly.

The amount of enriched uranium has not been affected?

The production is very steady.

Some say that from the moment Ayatollah [Ali] Khamenei gives the order to make the bomb it will take a year.

This is a question where we don't have much expertise. What we are doing is [tracking] how much enriched uranium they have.

President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad seems very determined to build a nuclear program.

I have the same impression.

He goes on to talk about Syria, Egypt and other threats and then comes back to Iran. Read the whole thing.

This whole thing is going to end militarily - either Iran will attack Israel (God forbid) or Israel or the United States will attack Iran. At this point, we have to hope that Stuxnet has bought us enough time until 2013 and that there is a new regime in the US at that time. It's clear that Obama has no intention of doing anything about this.

What could go wrong?

Labels: IAEA, Iranian nuclear program, Mohamed ElBaradei, Yukia Amano

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:14 AM