Reuters
Friday, February 2, 2007
A senior Iranian official said on Friday Iran had allowed the
installation of surveillance cameras at a complex where it is
set to begin expanding enrichment of nuclear fuel.
He also denied some reports that Iran had begun installing 3,000
centrifuges to step up uranium enrichment. "It has not started
yet," he said. Enriched uranium can be used to run power
plants or to detonate bombs.
The official, who declined to be identified further, spoke after
diplomats in Vienna, where the U.N. atomic watchdog is based,
said Iran had refused to let U.N. inspectors set up cameras at
the underground section of the Natanz complex.
But an Iranian news agency said in a report that was not clearly
sourced that plans to expand work at Natanz might lead to "limited
changes" in the way U.N. inspectors carried out their work,
including camera installation.
The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conducts inspections
of Natanz and other Iranian nuclear facilities to try to verify
that work is not being diverted to making nuclear bombs, which
the West fears. Iran denies such intentions.
"The installation of cameras has taken place in Natanz.
We have cooperated with the IAEA based on the safeguards and we
will continue to do so in the framework of cooperation and treaties,"
the official told Reuters.
"The installation of monitoring systems and surveillance
is taking place correctly and in the past days, the monitoring
system has been strengthened and there is no problem regarding
this issue between Iran and the agency," he said.
The official said he was referring to Natanz's underground hall,
where 3,000 centrifuges are set to be installed. The complex includes
a small, above-ground centrifuge research facility that is under
steady IAEA camera surveillance.
Asked about the Iranian official's denial, a Vienna diplomat
familiar with IAEA operations reaffirmed that Iran had caused
a holdup with camera preparations at the underground plant.
"But it's not a fait accompli. There have been contacts
to resolve the matter," the diplomat told Reuters on Friday.
Iran's student news agency ISNA said the decision to move from
research and development at Natanz to industrial-level work "will
naturally have some limited changes in the way the inspectors
inspect and install cameras, and in some of the agency's technical
and legal regulations."
ISNA did not give further details or a clear source.
Centrifuges are machines that make nuclear fuel for power stations
or material for warheads. The expansion is part of plans to move
up from experimental enrichment to what Iran calls "industrial-scale"
enrichment.
It would not be illegal for Iran to refuse to allow cameras to
be hooked up in the subterranean centrifuge hall because nuclear
work has not yet commenced.
The West suspects Iran, which hid enrichment research from the
IAEA for 18 years, is striving to build atomic bombs behind the
facade of a civilian energy program. IAEA probes have found no
proof of bombmaking, but raised many questions.
The United Nations has slapped sanctions on Iran's nuclear program
after Tehran failed to halt uranium enrichment work, which Tehran
insists is only aimed at generating electricity.
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