LONDON — The National Council of Resistance of Iran has released the content of
an Iranian government document that reported the production of thousands of
centrifuges for uranium enrichment. The document said the machines, produced
in Isfahan and Teheran, were assigned to secret facilities
throughout Iran.
"We were able to assemble thousands of centrifuge machines that could be
made operational in different sites across the country," the Iranian
opposition group quoted the classified Iranian government document as
saying.
The council said it has identified the secret enrichment sites in Iran. But a spokesman said he could not provide additional details, Middle East Newsline reported.
Gas centrifuges are required for the enrichment of uranium, a key process in the
assembly of nuclear weapons.
Western intelligence sources said the National Council of Resistance of
Iran has provided the most authoritative information regarding Iran's
nuclear weapons program. The council revealed the existence of secret
Iranian
facilities that enriched uranium, operated gas centrifuges and produced
heavy water in 2002. More than a year later, these reports were confirmed by
the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"Our research into these sites continues," Farid Soleimani of the
council's Foreign Affairs Committee, said. "We are aware that there are
additional sites. At the moment I am not able to reveal any more sites than
the sites we have already revealed."
[In Teheran, Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani reported significant
enhancement of the Shihab-3 intermediate-range ballistic missile. Shamkhani
said the missile had a range of 2,000 kilometers and a circle error of
probability of one meter.]
Council members said Iran produced about 4,000 centrifuges and that many
of them would be installed in the Iranian uranium enrichment facility at
Natanz. They said the centrifuges, produced by such companies as Energy
Novin, Kala Electric and Pars Tarash, have not been reported to the IAEA.
The Iranian government document, released by the opposition group during
an Aug. 8 news conference in Vienna, comprised a report to Iranian supreme
leader Ali Khamenei. The report was said to have assessed Teheran's efforts
to deflect Western pressure to halt Iran's nuclear program.
The Iranian document portrayed Teheran's nearly two years of talks with
the European Union as a means to frustrate U.S. efforts to impose United
Nations sanctions on Iran. After nearly two years of talks, Iran ended its
suspension of uranium conversion and renewed the process on Aug. 8.
"In autumn 2003, the international situation was overwhelmingly negative
for our nuclear activities," the Iranian report was quoted as saying. "The
IAEA had a long list of alleged breaches and failures by Iran. The
situation was so negative that even [IAEA director-general Mohamed] El
Baradei told us there
was no way we could avoid being referred to the Security Council."
The report said Iran was not ready in 2003 to confront any international
military or political campaign. Over the last two years, the report said,
Iran has significantly increased its military capabilities.
"In autumn 2003 the country was not ready, from the point of view of
military, security, political and economic situation, to confront all the
possible consequences of referral to the U.N. Security Council," the report
said. "Through the talks, we gained the opportunity to take significant
steps to prepare ourselves for all eventualities."
