Israel Matzav

Iran speeding up nuclear program

If you still need proof of what an utter failure Western sanctions against Iran have been, please consider this: Diplomats said on Wednesday that Iran has actually increased (tripled) the number of advanced uranium centrifuges in its Natanz nuclear facility.

If launched and operated successfully, the new machines would enable the Islamic state to sharply speed up sensitive atomic activity which it says is for peaceful energy purposes but which the West fears may be aimed at building nuclear bombs.

"It is clear Iran can build them. The question is how many and how good are they," one Western envoy said.

The planned deployment of next generation centrifuges underlines Iran's refusal to bow to pressure to curb its nuclear program, and may further complicate efforts to resolve the dispute diplomatically and avoid a spiral into war.

Iran announced early last month that it would build about 3,000 advanced centrifuges. But experts and diplomats said it was unclear whether it had the capability and materials needed to make so many, and also to run them smoothly.

Although still far from the target number, one diplomatic source estimated that roughly 500-600 so-called IR-2m centrifuges and empty centrifuge casings had now been put in place at the Natanz enrichment facility in central Iran.

That compares with 180 two months ago, according to the UN nuclear watchdog's latest report on Iran, issued in February. At the same time, Iran had more than 12,000 old-generation centrifuges installed at Natanz, but not all were enriching.

What could go wrong?

Labels: centrifuges, Iranian nuclear threat, Natanz, uranium enrichment

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:20 AM