VIENNA: When the UN Security Council first imposed sanctions on Iran in 2006 to try to make it halt its nuclear activity, the Islamic state had a nascent uranium enrichment programme with a couple of hundred centrifuges it was testing.
Seven years later — a period which has seen the major oil producer come under increasing international punitive measures — it has installed more than 19,000 such machines for processing uranium, which can have both civilian and military purposes.
The figures, from quarterly reports by the UN nuclear watchdog, demonstrate Iran’s determination to press ahead with a project it says is peaceful but which the West fears is aimed at developing the capability to assemble atomic bombs.
At the same time, it has amassed stocks of low- and medium-enriched uranium gas — 6.8 tonnes and 186kg respectively — that experts say would be enough for several bombs if processed further to weapons-grade material. The sanctions are taking a heavy toll on Iran’s economy — its daily earnings from oil sales have tumbled 60 percent since 2011 to $100m — but they have not stopped its nuclear push.
World powers hope to persuade Iran at talks in Geneva on October 15-16 to scale back its uranium enrichment. It is no longer considered realistic to expect Tehran to agree to suspend all enrichment, as demanded by the Security Council.
With 17 declared nuclear facilities across the country, the atomic programme has “become a point of national pride”, said Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group think-tank. “Iran’s nuclear programme cannot be wished or bombed away.”
Since 2006, Iran has crossed several thresholds. Iran built a second uranium enrichment plant at Fordow, started producing uranium to a level closer to that suitable for bombs, and installed advanced centrifuges able to enrich much faster.
Between May and August this year, it installed an additional 1,861 old-generation centrifuges at its main enrichment site near the town of Natanz, bringing the total to 15,416, although only about 60 percent of them seemed to be in operation. Reuters
