Stop Fundamentalism – During a recent inspection tour of the Iranian Natanz nuclear site located south-east of the capital Tehran, the International Atomic Energy Agency observers spotted about one hundred new high-tech centrifuges installed and ready to be put to work. The new generation machines, says the IAEA, can enrich uranium three to five times faster than previous ones.
The news of the upgrade comes just before the international community plans for another set of talks with Iran over its nuclear program. The western countries suspect the program to have military aims. The centrifuges will produce fuel grade uranium but with further enhancements, they can be used on a nuclear bomb warhead.
Iran had already announced the new installations but some diplomats rejected and predicted that the number of the new machines installed would be small.
Multiple rounds of talks between Iran and world powers have failed to produce any results and Iran has continued advancing in its nuclear objectives.
Iran already has enough enriched uranium, that if further enhanced, can be used to produce several nuclear weapons.
The price of keeping the program is growing rather expensive for the country as Iran’s economy is experiencing crippling pressure in face of growing international.
United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany plan to talk to Iran on February 26 in Kazakhstan in order to convince the country to halt its nuclear program. But with the new upgrade taking place at Natanz, observers deem the talks to be a failure already.
Iran had originally announced plans to install 3000 of the new centrifuges at Natanz. Observers told Associated Press that it would only take about six to nine months for Iran to install that many centrifuges.
Meanwhile the IAEA is expected to produce its new report about Iran’s nuclear program by Friday. While the talks next week in Kazakhstan would be a first after an eight-month pause, observers expect little outcome from them.
Israel is threatening to target Iran’s nuclear sites as the last resort. But western diplomats say that during the talks next week world powers may have some considerable and serious suggestions that would hard for Iran to refuse.
