Iran to set date for inspection of second illicit nuke plant

Just as soon as the plant can be cleaned of evidence that it would have been used to make fissionable Highly Enriched Uranium, Iran will allow inspection of the plant. Of course, there is never any way to know about the plants we don't know about.

 

Indications are that the US knew about this plant in 2003. How did that impact the National Intelligence Estimate of 2007 that said Iran is not building a nuclear weapon?

 

Ami Isseroff

Last update - 09:31 29/09/2009       
Iran: We'll soon set time for inspection of second nuke plant
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent, and Agencies

 

Iran will soon inform the United Nations nuclear watchdog of a timetable for inspection of a newly disclosed uranium enrichment plant, the Islamic Republic's atomic energy agency chief was quoted as saying late Monday.

 

State Press TV said Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, made the comment three days before crucial talks between Tehran and world powers worried about its nuclear ambitions.

 

The exposure of a second nuclear fuel facility, under construction south of Tehran, added urgency to the rare meeting in Geneva on Thursday, which has been described by analysts as "a last chance" before the application of harsh sanctions against Iran.

 

Iran conducted missile tests on Sunday and Monday, further ratcheting up the tension with Western powers.

 

U.S. President Barack Obama has demanded that Iran come clean on its disputed nuclear program and a White House spokesman on Monday urged "immediate unfettered access" to the new site.

 

Iran has rejected Western condemnation of the new facility, saying it is legal and open to investigation to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

 

Press TV, Iran's English-language state television, said Salehi had noted that the plant was under construction within the framework of IAEA regulations, saying, "Iran has taken all the precautionary steps to safeguard its nuclear facilities."

 

Citing its interview with Salehi, Press TV added: "Iran says it will soon inform the International Atomic Energy Agency of a timetable for inspection of its recently announced nuclear facility."

 

"Salehi said that his country will try to resolve the issue both politically and technically with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) and the IAEA," Press TV said on its website.

 

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, told the BBC on Monday he had had a couple of meetings with IAEA inspectors and it was agreed they would be given access to the site "in the near future". He gave no date.

 

The United States and its Western allies have made clear they will focus on Iran's nuclear program at the Geneva meeting. Iran has offered wide-ranging security talks but says it will not discuss its nuclear "rights."

 

Israel, the U.S. and other Western nations suspect Iran is trying to develop a nuclear bomb capability. Iran, a major oil producer, says its nuclear work is solely for generating electricity.

 

"It is against our tenets, it is against our religion to produce, use, hold or have nuclear weapons or arsenal, how can we more clearly state our position, since 1974 we have been saying this," Press TV quoted Salehi as saying.

 

Iran tests long-range missiles capable of reaching Israel

 

Two days before the opening of talks between Iranian and U.S. officials, the Islamic Republic went ahead with a test launch of long-range missiles capable of reaching Israel.

 

Iran test-fired its Shahab-3 missile, which puts Israel within reach along with Saudi Arabia and U.S. Army bases in the Gulf. Defense Minister Ehud Barak is scheduled to meet Tuesday with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss the Iranian nuclear issue.

 

The two will meet at Brighton, where Britain's Labor Party is holding a conference. Barak will meet British Foreign Secretary David Miliband Wednesday for a talk on the same subject.

 

The successful launch of the Shahab-3, which the military said has a range of 2,000 kilometers, came on the second day of war games led by the Revolutionary Guards.

 

The Foreign Ministry denied any link between the missile tests and the October 1 nuclear talks in Geneva. The war games had been scheduled many months ago, but were seen in the West as an act of defiance, especially in light of the recent exposure by the United States of a facility for the enrichment of uranium which the Iranians are said to have set up in Qom.

 

Iran has refused UN demands to suspend uranium enrichment, which the United States and some of its allies allege is aimed at developing weapons. The United States, Britain and France said last week Iran secretly built a second plant for enriching uranium in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

 

Iran's construction of the underground facility at Qom may prompt additional economic sanctions, including restrictions on banking and oil-and-gas technology, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told CNN Monday.

 

The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency said it was informed by Iran on September 21 that a new pilot fuel-enrichment plant was under construction.

 

Iran's test firings during the war games are "deeply destabilizing," the French Foreign Ministry said in a news conference broadcast online. "We're calling on Iran to choose the way of cooperation and not that of confrontation," the ministry said.

 

The Shahab-1 and Shahab-2 missiles, which can travel 300 to 700 kilometers, were launched late Monday, General Hossein Salami, head of the air force, told Press TV.

 

The Federation of American Scientists says the Shahab-3 only has a range of 1,290 kilometers, though the Shahab-4 is capable of 2,000 kilometers. In May, Iran launched a Sejil-2 missile, which it said has a range of 2,000 kilometers.

 

The latest maneuvers are a routine operation to assess the country's military ability, the government in Tehran said. The exercise, called Prophet IV, is aimed at "practicing management of long-term preventive and defensive operations," Salami said on the Guards' Web site.

 

The maneuvers coincide with the start of Iran's "Sacred Defense" week, marking the eight-year war with neighboring Iraq that ended in 1988.

 

Barak Ravid contributed to this report.