|
Trending Topics
|
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/08/international/asia/08DIPL.html
U.S.: Iran Violating Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
(New York Times) The U.S. is pressing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to declare that Iran has violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which it has signed, officials said Wednesday. Such a finding could lead to punitive action by the UN, officials said. Of greatest concern is the recent disclosure that Iran has built a uranium enrichment plant at Natanz in central Iran, with large underground structures believed by intelligence experts to contain centrifuges used in producing highly enriched uranium, a fuel for nuclear weapons. In February, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the IAEA, found a hundred-plus centrifuges in Natanz, with more waiting to be assembled. American experts are convinced that Natanz is so obviously a weapons facility that the IAEA can be persuaded to act on it.