(Israel Hayom) Shlomo Cesana - Israel believes Iran's Saturday announcement regarding the redesign of its Arak heavy water reactor to greatly limit the amount of plutonium it can produce is little more than an exercise to keep the negotiations going while Iran continues to work toward its goal of developing a nuclear bomb. Intelligence and Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said: "This is an exercise in deceit on the part of the Iranians. The Iranians are prepared to make concessions, but not on the most critical and threatening issue. They are protecting the core program." "If the Iranians offer not to switch from heavy water to light water, but instead to lower the reactor's output, that is an unacceptable offer. Instead of being able to create a bomb every year, they will create one every two years," Steinitz said. "As long as the Iranians are not prepared to give up on uranium enrichment and centrifuges, they continue to be a nuclear threshold state and we cannot agree to that." Ali Akbar Salehi, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said on Saturday that Iran plans to increase its number of centrifuges until it reaches the capacity to enrich 30 tons of uranium per year.
2014-04-22 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive