Iran resumed nuclear bomb project, experts say
Daily Telegraph says Revolutionary Guard set up several civilian companies to work on constructing components for advanced P2 gas centrifuge. 'If Iran’s nuclear intentions were peaceful there would be no need for it to undertake this work in secret,' western official says
The UK-based Daily Telegraph reported Monday that the latest intelligence reports received by Western diplomats indicate that Iran has resumed work on constructing highly sophisticated equipment that nuclear experts say is primarily used for building atomic weapons.
According to the report, the work is aimed at developing the blueprint provided by Dr AQ Khan, the "father" of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, who sold Iran details of how to build atom bombs in the early 1990s.
The Telegraph said Iran's Revolutionary Guard, which has overall responsibility for the country's nuclear program, has set up several civilian companies to work on the program whose activities are being deliberately concealed from the United Nations nuclear inspection teams.
The companies, based on the outskirts of Tehran, "are working on constructing components for the advanced P2 gas centrifuge, which can enrich uranium to weapons grade two to three times faster than conventional P1 centrifuges", the report said.
"Iran's nuclear enrichment program at Natanz, which Tehran insists is designed to produce fuel for nuclear power, runs on P1 centrifuges. But Iranian nuclear scientists recently conducted successful tests on a prototype P2 centrifuge at Natanz, and the Revolutionary Guard has now set up a network of companies to build components for the advanced centrifuges," the Telegraph report's said, adding "This has raised concerns among Western experts that Iran is continuing work on its nuclear weapons program, despite Tehran’s protestations that its intentions are peaceful."
An official familiar with the intelligence reports was quoted by the British daily as saying that “If Iran’s nuclear intentions were peaceful there would be no need for it to undertake this work in secret."
According to the Telegraph, a previous clandestine attempt by Iran to develop P2 centrifuges was halted in 2004 after the existence of a civilian company set up by the Revolutionary Guard was exposed. UN nuclear inspectors found traces of weapons-grade uranium at the company when they inspected the premises, the report said.
Work unlikely to be detected by UN inspectors
Iran vowed on Saturday to pursue its uranium enrichment program, a day after delivering its response to an incentives package by world powers trying to curb its nuclear ambitions.
No details were released of Iran's formal reply on Friday - submitted to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana - to the offer of talks on benefits if Tehran halts enrichment the West suspects is for nuclear bombs. Iran says its plans are peaceful.
In its first public statement after giving the response, government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham said that Iran had no intention of discussing its "right to enriching uranium".
"Iran's stance has not changed (on uranium enrichment) and we are ready to hold talks in the framework of preserving Iran's nuclear rights," Elham told a news conference on Saturday.
The Telegraph said that according to recent intelligence reports, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, personally ordered the Revolutionary Guard to set up companies for the secret manufacture of components for P2 centrifuges this year.
One of the companies, the report said, is in a residential building in Amir Abad, western Tehran, where its work is unlikely to be detected by UN nuclear inspectors. One of the facilities is said to be run by a company owned by the Revolutionary Guard.
The Telegraph said the operation is a "direct copy" of the Revolutionary Guard’s previous attempt to develop P2 centrifuges, when research work was undertaken by the Kalaye Electric Company, which claimed it was manufacturing watches.
"When its true activity was revealed to UN nuclear inspectors in 2004, they found the company had succeeded in building the centrifuges and enriching small quantities of uranium to weapons grade," according to the British daily.
