Report: Iran to move enrichment op
Tehran's civil defense chief says Islamic Republic ready to relocate enrichment plants to safer sites 'if necessary'
Iran will move its uranium enrichment plants to safer sites if conditions make this necessary, the semi-official Mehr news agency on Wednesday quoted a senior Revolutionary Guards commander as saying.
Controversy over Iran's uranium enrichment program has resulted in Western powers imposing increasingly tight economic sanctions on the Iran, and Israel and the United States say they have not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to persuade Tehran to suspend its sensitive nuclear work.
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"If conditions require, we will move our uranium enrichment centers to safer places," Mehr quoted Gholamreza Jalali, head of Iran's civil defense organization, as saying.
Western powers suspect Iran is trying to acquire the ability to produce nuclear weapons. Iran denies this, saying it is enriching uranium only for peaceful purposes such as power generation and medical use.
The West currently knows about the following nuclear program facilities in Iran:
- Natanz – a uranium enrichment facility
- Qom – a uranium enrichment facility
- Isfahan – a uranium conversion Facility
- Arak – a heavy water production plant
- Bushehr – a civilian nuclear power plant
- Tehran – an experimental nuclear reactor
- Parchin – a military base for nuclear research and development
- Various uranium mines in central and southern Iran
Israel maintains that a nuclear Iran would threaten its existence.
News agencies contributed to this report
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