Iranian failure to cooperate stalls nuclear inquiry

Vienna: A UN inquiry into intelligence allegations of secret atom bomb research in Iran has reached a standstill because of Iranian failure to cooperate, an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report said on Monday.

Iran said the IAEA bore the blame for lack of progress. A senior Iranian official, who asked not to be named, said it must change its approach and work in a "legal and logical" manner.

A confidential IAEA report said Iran had raised the number of centrifuges enriching uranium to 3,820, compared with 3,300 in May, with over 2,000 more being installed.

"We have arrived at a gridlock," said a senior UN official familiar with the latest report, which urged Iran to take the intelligence allegations seriously to defuse suspicions its nuclear work is not entirely peaceful.

But Iran seemed some way from refining enough uranium to build a nuclear weapon, if it chose, the report indicated.

Iran had stockpiled 480 kg of low-enriched uranium so far. It would need 1,700kg to convert into high-enriched uranium for fuelling an atom bomb, said UN officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Defence exercises

"That would be a significant quantity, one unit of HEU [highly enriched unranium], and would take on the order of two years," said one official.

On the day the report emerged, Iran announced air defence exercises in half of the Islamic Republic's 30 provinces.

"[Air defence commander Brigadier General Ahmad Mighani] emphasised that the enemies would receive a serious response for any aggression and we would surprise them and make them regretful," the ISNA agency in Tehran reported.

Washington says it wants a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff, but has not ruled out military action if that fails.

Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, says its nuclear programme is a peaceful drive to generate electricity.

In its last report in May, the IAEA said Iran appeared to be withholding information needed to explain intelligence that it had linked projects to process uranium, test high explosives and modify a missile cone in a way suitable for a nuclear warhead.

Warning: Sanctions threat

Iran should stop enriching uranium and other reprocessing activities or face the possibility of further sanctions, the White House said yesterday after a UN agency reported Iran was stalling its nuclear inquiry.

"The Iranian regime's continued defiance only further isolates the Iranian people," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

"We urge Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities or face further implementation of the existing United Nations Security Council sanctions and the possibility of new sanctions."

- Reuters