Iran on Friday denied claims by opponent groups that it was secretly building a new uranium enrichment site deep in the mountains northwest of the capital. "We have no such fitting that enriches uranium and if they are aware of such a growth, they should tell us. We will thank them," the country's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi told the Mehr news agency. "No such nuclear installation with a specific definition exists in Iran which has not been confirmed to the agency," he said of UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iranian opponent group the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said on Thursday in Washington that in 2005 Iran began construction a new uranium enrichment site in Abyek, about 120 kilometers northwest of Tehran.
Iran is now enriching uranium in the central city of Natanz and is building another such facility at Fordo, southwest of the capital. Salehi said that nuclear installations have exact purposes. "Facilities which are used for medical and agriculture purposes are not measured nuclear. There are many such facilities in Iran," he said. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces in November that Iran will build 10 new uranium enrichment sites. His statement came after Iran was censured by the IAEA for building the second enrichment facility at Fordo, southwest of the capital. Last month, Salehi said that construction of one of the 10 new nuclear services would begin by the nd of the current Iranian year in March 2011, or shortly thereafter.
The United States and other Western powers think Iran is using its uranium enrichment programme to build an atom bomb. Iran denies the charge, saying its atomic programme is for peaceful reason. The Pentagon and the independent Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), meanwhile, spoken skepticism over the newest opposition claims. "I don't know if this site is one that they have discovered that our intelligence expert has not seen. I find that hard to consider, but we shall see," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said. David Albright, the founder of ISIS, said "it's just another one of their results you can't verify. It doesn't hold up very well in our minds. There's nothing in the satellite images that advise a centrifuge plant." He told AFP the NCRI have made "a lot of mistakes" with past claims about Iranian nuclear action and they also "exaggerate their accomplishments dramatically."
Iran is now enriching uranium in the central city of Natanz and is building another such facility at Fordo, southwest of the capital. Salehi said that nuclear installations have exact purposes. "Facilities which are used for medical and agriculture purposes are not measured nuclear. There are many such facilities in Iran," he said. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces in November that Iran will build 10 new uranium enrichment sites. His statement came after Iran was censured by the IAEA for building the second enrichment facility at Fordo, southwest of the capital. Last month, Salehi said that construction of one of the 10 new nuclear services would begin by the nd of the current Iranian year in March 2011, or shortly thereafter.
The United States and other Western powers think Iran is using its uranium enrichment programme to build an atom bomb. Iran denies the charge, saying its atomic programme is for peaceful reason. The Pentagon and the independent Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), meanwhile, spoken skepticism over the newest opposition claims. "I don't know if this site is one that they have discovered that our intelligence expert has not seen. I find that hard to consider, but we shall see," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said. David Albright, the founder of ISIS, said "it's just another one of their results you can't verify. It doesn't hold up very well in our minds. There's nothing in the satellite images that advise a centrifuge plant." He told AFP the NCRI have made "a lot of mistakes" with past claims about Iranian nuclear action and they also "exaggerate their accomplishments dramatically."
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