In a defiant swipe at its foes, Iran said it is dramatically closer to mastering the production of nuclear fuel even as the US weighs tougher pressures and Tehran’s suspected shadow war with Israel brings probes far beyond the Middle East.
Also on Wednesday, Iran indicated it was on the verge of imposing a midwinter fuel squeeze on Europe in retaliation for a looming boycott of Iranian oil, but denied reports earlier in the day that six nations had already been cut off.
However, the uncompromising messages from Iran, came with a counterpoint. The official IRNA news agency said top Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili told EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton that Iran is ready to return to talks with the US and other world powers.
In a live TV broadcast, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was shown overseeing what was described as the first Iranian-made fuel rod inserted into a research reactor in northern Tehran. Separately, the semiofficial Fars agency reported that a “new generation” of Iranian centrifuges — used to enrich uranium toward nuclear fuel — had gone into operation at the country’s main enrichment facility at Natanz in central Iran.
In Washington, US Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Tom Countryman dismissed the Iranian claims of reaching a pivotal moment.
“The announcement today by Iran has much more to do with political developments in Iran than it has to do with factual developments,” he said.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said Iran’s “defiant acts” seek to “distract attention” from the damage brought by international sanctions.
Meanwhile, Iran is facing major new international complications: Accusations of bringing an apparent covert conflict with Israel to points stretching from Thailand and India to the former Soviet republic of Georgia.
Officials in Israel ramped up allegations that Iran was linked to international bomb plots, saying magnetic “sticky” bombs found in a Bangkok house rented by Iranians were similar to devices used against Israeli envoys in a foiled attack in Georgia on Monday and a blast in New Delhi that injured four people, including a diplomat’s wife.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called the allegations “baseless” and an attempt to push “conspiracy” theories to discredit Iran with its Asian partners, including major oil buyer India.
Iran, in turn, accused Israel of being behind clandestine attacks that have claimed the lives of at least five members of its scientific community over the past two years, including a “sticky” bomb blast that killed a director at the Natanz labs last month.
Framed photos of the five scientists were shown by Iranian TV before a speech by Ahmadinejad, who was flanked by the flags of Iran and the country’s nuclear agency.
He repeated Iran’s goal of becoming a technological beacon for the Islamic world and insisted that scientific progress is the right of all nations.
“I hope we reach the point where we will be able to meet all our nuclear needs inside the country so we won’t need to extend our hand before others, specifically before the world’s dastardly people,” Ahmadinejad said. “For a gentleman, for a chivalrous nation, the most difficult moment is when he has a need to ask [for something] from a dastardly person.”
The purported new frontiers for Iran’s atomic program showcase what could be significant steps at becoming self-sufficient in creating nuclear fuel — the centerpiece of the dispute with the US and its allies.
The Tehran facility where IRNA said the new fuel rods were installed is intended to produce isotopes for cancer treatments. It requires fuel enriched to about 20 percent, considered a threshold between low and high-enriched uranium.
Iran began enriching up to about 20 percent in February 2010 after attempts at a deal with the West to import the fuel rods broke down.
Iranian officials have long spoken of introducing faster, more efficient centrifuges at the Natanz facility. The Fars report did not give further details, but Iran also said it also has sophisticated centrifuges in a new site built into a mountainside south of Tehran and possibly impervious to airstrikes.
A diplomat accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors Iran’s known nuclear programs said the “new generation” of centrifuges appeared to refer to about 65 IR-4 machines that were recently set up at an experimental site at Natanz.
The new model can churn out enriched material at a faster rate than the more rudimentary IR-1 centrifuges, thousands of which are at work in Natanz producing low-enriched uranium, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is privileged.
In still another development, Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Mohammad Abbasi was quoted as saying Iran would open a new facility to produce “yellowcake,” which is concentrated natural uranium and is the foundation material in the process to make nuclear fuel. In the past, Iran has purchased most of its yellowcake abroad, including South Africa and China.
The US and EU have tried to rein in Iran’s nuclear program with new boycotts and banking restrictions targeting Iran’s crucial oil exports, which accounts for about 80 percent of the country’s foreign revenue.
The administration of US President Barack Obama is now weighing an even harsher blow: possibly seeking Iran’s removal from SWIFT, an independent financial clearinghouse that is crucial to the country’s overseas oil sales. However, such a move could push oil prices higher and undercut fragile Western economies.
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