Iran acknowledged Thursday that it plans to process tonnes of raw uranium, but said the UN nuclear watchdog was informed long ago and accused Washington of sensationalizing the matter.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press that Iran plans to process more than 40 tons of uranium into uranium hexafluoride gas. Experts said the amount was enough for four or five warheads.
The UN report did not specify what plans Iran had for the material, which is spun in centrifuges to produce enriched uranium. This can then be used to generate electricity or make nuclear warheads, depending on the degree of enrichment.
Ali Akbar Salehi, a senior adviser to Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, said Thursday that Iran's plans were not a secret. "This is the information Iran provided to the IAEA a long time ago," he told the AP.
In response to what he called Iran's concerted effort to make nuclear weapons, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday that Washington would urge the UN nuclear agency at its board meeting this month to refer the Iranian case to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
Iran denies the allegation and insists its nuclear program is geared only toward producing electricity, not a nuclear bomb.
Salehi, Iran's former envoy to the Vienna, Austria-based IAEA, said extraction of uranium and converting uranium ore into hexafluoride gas was entirely legitimate and under the safeguards of the IAEA.
"Technically speaking, there is no way Iran's nuclear program will be diverted toward making bombs," Salehi said.
"To produce a bomb, you need vast facilities, including thousands of advanced centrifuges ... The equipment in Natanz can't do that, and IAEA cameras there watch the facility 24 hours a day," Salehi said.
However, David Albright, a former IAEA nuclear inspector, said "enrichment technology is easy to switch" to allow the manufacture of highly enriched, or weapons-grade uranium from centrifuges that are set up to make low-enriched uranium, used in nuclear fuel.
While Iran does not have the 1,500-2,000 operating centrifuges needed to make enough weapons-grade uranium for one nuclear bomb in a year, it is thought to have several hundred.
That would slow the process over years, but does not mean there are not enough centrifuges -- just that it would take a longer time to make highly enriched uranium suitable for a bomb, said Albright, who now heads the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS