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Iran has passed a crucial nuclear threshold, weapons inspectors have
warned, and could now go on to arm an atomic missile with relative ease. By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Published: 7:22PM BST 06 Sep 2010 Iran moves closer to nuclear weapon A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iranian
nuclear scientists had made at least 22 kilograms of enriched uranium at
least 20 per cent purity, a technical hurdle that is the hardest to
overcome on the way to weapons-grade uranium.
Experts estimate that 20 kgs of uranium is the minimum required to arm a
warhead. The uranium would still need to have its purity raised to 90
per cent, but that is a relatively easy process. The agency's report comes in spite of the recent imposition at the
United Nations of a fresh round of sanctions against Iran and will
heighten fears of an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear plants. The
prospect of an attack had receded only recently with American assurances
that Tehran was more than a year away from acquiring a bomb. The Vienna-based nuclear watchdog said Tehran had maintained its
absolute defiance of international pressure to curb its programme
despite the imposition of harsh sanctions in May. The IAEA has grown
increasingly alarmed at Iran's behaviour and the latest report, which
will be presented to the agency's governors at a meeting next week,
lambasted Tehran on a series of fronts. The country's refusal to answer questions on its attempts to make a
nuclear warhead that could be fitted on to its most advanced missiles
was denounced as a violation of sanctions. The agency also rebuked the regime for its repeated failure to
co-operate with weapons inspections designed to ensure that material was
held securely at Iranian plants. Iran barred two weapons inspectors from the country in June after they
reported undeclared nuclear activity by scientists. It has also
systematically objected to other scientists on spurious grounds. "The agency is ... concerned that the repeated objection to the
designation of experienced inspectors hampers the inspection process and
detracts from the agency's ability to implement safeguards in Iran," the
report said. The acquisition of uranium will cause the most alarm however. Until
February the Iranians were enriching uranium to levels of no more than 5
per cent at its plant in Natanz. The government-funded Verification Research, Training and Information
Centre, an expert body with privileged access to the IAEA, has estimated
that a weapons expert could make a nuclear device from 20 kgs of 20 per
cent enriched material with relatively few further obstacles. The IAEA under Yukiya Amano, its new Japanese director general, has
taken a much tougher line with Iran's obstruction of international
inspections. But the agency's reports demonstrate that while the Iranian
economy has suffered from sanctions the nuclear programme has not been
impeded. Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium, the feedstock of both
civilian and military nuclear programmes, has risen by around 15 per
cent since May to reach 2.8 tonnes. However the number of centrifuges
that refine uranium to higher levels of purity has fallen to 3,772 from
3,936.
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