U.N. Penalties Not Curbing Iranian Enrichment

NTI: Global Security Newswire, U.N. penalties against Iran have not affected the pace of uranium enrichment at the nation's Natanz complex or the deployment of enrichment centrifuges at the facility, the head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency said in prepared remarks slated for delivery on Thursday (see GSN, March 9).

The U.N. Security Council has adopted four sanctions resolutions aimed at pressuring Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program, which the United States and other powers suspect is geared toward generating nuclear-weapon fuel. Tehran has maintained its nuclear program has no military component while steadfastly refusing to curb its enrichment activities (see GSN, March 9).

“Iran has installed nearly 9,000 centrifuges at Natanz and accumulated more than enough” low-enriched uranium to fuel a bomb "if it further enriches and processes the material to higher levels," Bloomberg quoted U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency Chief Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess as saying in written testimony for the Senate Armed Services Committee. Progress at Iran's Arak heavy-water reactor was also unaffected, he said.

The official's statement does not comment on possible Iranian plans to build a nuclear weapon, but U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper is expected to assert that Tehran's atomic efforts "position it" for the move.

“Iran’s nuclear decision-making is guided by a cost-benefit approach, which offers the international community opportunities to influence Tehran,” Clapper said in his written testimony.

Burgess said his agency considers the Middle Eastern nation "unlikely to initiate or intentionally provoke” an international confrontation or a military response by another power.

Iran's has placed many of its sensitive atomic assets in below-ground facilities, he added.

“Buried, hardened facilities and improved air defenses are key elements of Iran’s extensive program to protect its nuclear infrastructure from destruction,” Burgess said, adding the nation's use of such sites was similar to efforts by other countries to “conceal and protect their most vital national security activities.”

“The spread of western tunneling technology and equipment is contributing to a rise in construction by countries and organizations that have not previously used modern techniques,” the official said.

Burgess noted Russia's 2010 decision to cancel the planned delivery of an air-defense system Iran had sought, to be used "to protect senior leaders [and] industrial facilities, in addition to its nuclear facilities." The system would have "significantly" increased Iran's ability to guard its skies, he said (Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg, March 10).

Meanwhile, Iran on Wednesday rebuffed U.S. and EU criticism of its atomic program, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

"The United States and EU have once again repeated the unfounded assertion questioning the exclusive peaceful nature of our nuclear activities without presenting any authenticated evidence," Iranian Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency Ali Asghar Soltanieh said at a meeting of the 35-nation IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria.

"They are trying to divert the attention from the real threat to global peace and security, namely from hundreds of nuclear weapons deployed in Europe by the United States of America," Soltanieh told the Islamic Republic News Agency on Wednesday (see GSN, Jan. 18; Xinhua News Agency, March 10).

“In a letter to the IAEA director general (Yukiya Amano), I reminded [him of] the U.S. violations in deploying nuclear weapons in Europe, which clearly violates the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and called for a report in this regard,” Iran's Press TV quoted him as saying.

“According to the NPT, countries which do not have nuclear weapons, such as Germany and Italy, are obliged to refrain from accepting any material or technologies related to nuclear weapons,” and they must declare any atomic assets to the U.N. nuclear watchdog and permit international audits of the material, he said.

The deployment of U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe "is an obvious violation of the NPT and should be addressed as soon as possible, and the agency should inspect the (storage) place of these weapons and present a complete technical report,” Soltanieh said (Press TV, March 9).

A top U.S. lawmaker on Tuesday urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to penalize Iran as well as Syria for stymieing U.N. probes of their nuclear activities. The Obama administration's ambassador to the Vienna-based organization on Wednesday criticized Syria's continued refusal to permit IAEA officials to visit key sites of concern (see GSN, March 9).

“Iran’s and Syria’s continued stonewalling of the IAEA cannot go unanswered. It is my hope that the IAEA director general’s statements that Iran and Syria continue to refuse to cooperate with the agency will force the IAEA to take decisive action, followed up by U.N. Security Council action," U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) said in released remarks.

“There is much that the IAEA can and should be doing to address these severe threats. The IAEA should immediately suspend all membership privileges of Iran and Syria, including technical assistance, voting privileges, and the ability to host meetings. The IAEA must also immediately invoke its right to a ‘special inspection’ to force the regime in Syria to come clean about its nuclear program. The IAEA should also call on the UN Security Council to take further action against the Iranian regime and to take steps to address Syrian violations of its nonproliferation obligations.

“The U.S. must also demonstrate leadership in confronting the threats posed by Iran and Syria by moving quickly to tighten sanctions and other measures on these outlaw regimes," Ros-Lehtinen said (U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee release, March 8).