Iran Nuclear Watch: Five Permanent Members of the U.N. Security Council Send Messages To Iran To Halt Nuclear Plans
IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Director General Mohammad El Baradei in Vienna, August 2005. Iran said it would resume nuclear fuel research, triggering fresh Western warnings that Tehran could face sanctions and wreck dialogue to end a dispute over its controversial nuclear programme, while ElBaradei said he was “losing patience” with what he called Iran’s lack of transparency.
Reuters: Five nuclear powers send messages to Iran: US
The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have sent strong messages telling
Iran to halt plans for nuclear fuel research and resume talks with European powers, a senior U.S. official said on Monday.A senior State Department official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the so-called P5 — Britain, France, the United States, Russia and China — had sent separate notes to Tehran in recent days over its plans to resume research on nuclear fuel.
The United States had been looking for a strong joint statement but finally settled on separate statements with the same message — that Iran should not resume the research.
“We have worked closely with the Russians, the Chinese, the French, the British and others,” said the State Department official, adding, “The Iranians have received these messages.”
Refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council.
There has been enough stalling, subterfuge and diplomatic largess.
Iran – Stand down your nuclear program or suffer the consequences of United Nations sanctions and/or a military operation to destroy your nuclear facilities.
The uranium conversion facility near the Iranian city of Isfahan. Iran is to end its two-and-a-half year suspension of nuclear fuel research Monday or Tuesday, a senior official announced, overshadowing the launch of talks with Russia on compromise proposals to end the nuclear stand-off with the West.
ABC News: Learned Iran Intends to Take Critical Step in Making Material for Nuclear Weapons
ABC News has learned that Iran intends to begin enriching uranium — the critical step in making material for nuclear weapons — a move European diplomats and officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, have tried to prevent over the past three years.
Sources with knowledge of Iran’s nuclear program tell ABC News that a senior Iranian official notified the IAEA verbally over the weekend of its intention to introduce uranium hexafluoride gas, or UF6, into centrifuges at a facility in Natanz, 150 miles south of Tehran.
Introducing UF6 into centrifuges is the necessary step in producing enriched uranium. The centrifuges work by separating out uranium-235 atoms, which can be used to make nuclear weapons and also to fuel nuclear reactors, from heavier uranium-238 atoms.
But, when can Iran assemble a nuclear weapon with the enrichment process upon which they have started?
An official from the IAEA would not confirm that Iran has discussed the use of UF6 in the centrifuges at Natanz, saying the agency is “still seeking detailed clarification as to what precisely Iran intends to do”
The centrifuges at Natanz are not immediately ready for the UF6 and would require some further assembly before the uranium gas could be introduced.
Experts familiar with Iran’s centrifuge efforts believe they could be made ready within days, but it could take many years for Iran to produce a sufficient amount of enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb, given their existing centrifuge capabilities.
The amount of time Iran would need to produce enough enriched uranium for a bomb depends on several factors, including the enrichment level of the uranium gas used in the cascade and the power of the centrifuges. According to a report published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, it could take Iran more than 10 years to produce 25 kilograms of 93 percent enriched high-enriched uranium using the 164 centrifuges it has currently at Natanz.
This time could be shortened to as little as two years if Iran uses UF6 that is already slightly enriched, according to the institute, or if the power of the centrifuges is increased.
And if there is a miscalculation and Iran already has the capability?
Stay tuned………
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