Edmund Blair
Reuters
Sunday, January 28, 2007
An Iranian nuclear official denied a statement by a Tehran parliamentarian
on Saturday that the country had begun installing 3,000 new atomic
centrifuges for uranium enrichment -- a process that can make
atomic bombs.
Hossein Simorgh, the head of public affairs at Iran's Atomic
Energy Organization, was quoted by IRNA news agency as saying
no such new devices had been fitted at its Natanz uranium enrichment
facility.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of parliament's foreign affairs and
national security committee, had earlier been quoted as saying
Iran had started installing the centrifuges, used to make fuel
for power stations or material for atomic bombs.
"No new centrifuge machine has been installed in Natanz
facility," said Simorgh, responding to Boroujerdi's comments.
The U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on Iran on December
23 and gave the Islamic Republic 60 days to suspend uranium enrichment.
Diplomats have said inspectors from the U.N. watchdog, the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), had concluded Iran was ready to start
installing the centrifuges. But they said timing the installation
was likely to be a political decision.
Moderate politicians in Iran, particularly critics of anti-Western
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been counseling caution and
possibly even suspending enrichment, until now a step opposed
by Iran.
Ahmadinejad has been blamed by critics for exacerbating the standoff
with the West by his fiery speeches, although the final say in
nuclear policy and other matters of state lies with Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's highest authority.
The United States has said it would be a "miscalculation"
if Iran believed it could install the 3,000 centrifuges and still
avoid another U.N. resolution or further pressure.
If Iran puts 3,000 machines in place and runs them smoothly,
it could make enough material for at least one warhead in a year.
But Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, insists its
aims are peaceful and it wants to generate electricity.
Iran already operates two experimental cascades of 164 centrifuges,
which spin at supersonic speeds to purify uranium.
U.N. sanctions imposed last month banned the transfer of sensitive
materials and know-how to Iran's nuclear and missile programs.
The United States has also imposed sanctions on two big Iranian
state banks, ratcheting up the pressure on Tehran.
The Islamic Republic said on Tuesday it was barring entry to
38 IAEA inspectors, who were nationals of Western countries which
sponsored the U.N. sanctions or backed them. The IAEA has urged
Iran to review that step.
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