Saturday, September 26, 2009

Iran's "secret" nuclear plant

From Ynet News, 25/9/09:
IAEA confirms Iran building 2nd enrichment plant
UN nuclear agency says informed by Islamic Republic that it is running new, previously undeclared, facility to enrich uranium...

...Iran is under three sets of UN Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze enrichment.

...because enrichment can make both nuclear fuel and weapons-grade uranium, the international community fears Tehran will use the technology to generate the fissile material used on the tip of nuclear warheads.

The revelation further burdens the chances of progress in scheduled October 1 talks between Iran and six world powers. ...the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany will be pressing Iran to scale back on its enrichment activities...

...The existence of a secret Iranian enrichment program built on black market technology was revealed seven years ago. Since then the country has continued to expand the program with only a few interruptions as it works toward its aspirations of a 50,000-centrifuge enrichment facility at the southern city of Natanz...

From Ynet News, 26/9/09, by Yitzhak Benhorin:
Obama: Time for Iran to make a choice
WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama said that if Iran could not be persuaded to "come clean" about its nuclear program via diplomacy, the US will consider other options.

Speaking at a press conference at the conclusion of a G-20 summit, Obama said that, "When we find that diplomacy does not work, we will be in a much stronger position to, for example, apply sanctions that have bite. That's not the preferred course of action. I would love nothing more than to see Iran choose the responsible path."

Obama joined the leaders of Britain and France in accusing the Islamic Republic of clandestinely building an underground plant to make nuclear fuel that could be used to build an atomic bomb.

"Iran's action raised grave doubts about its promise to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes only," he added, saying the Islamic Republic will soon have to choose "between international isolation and giving up any aspirations to becoming a nuclear power… If they refuse to give ground, they will stay on a path that is going to lead to confrontation...

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