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Iran's Road to Nuclear Arms

(Ha'aretz) - Ze'ev Schiff Iran revealed months ago that it had purchased a special gas from China that could be used to enrich uranium for the production of nuclear weapons. Iranians who oppose the regime in Teheran held a press conference on Thursday with the backing of the U.S. administration at which they revealed that Iran has recently removed a great deal of equipment from facilities where nuclear energy is produced. They named an additional nuclear installation where centrifuges are operated for uranium enrichment, at Abali, near the city of Isfahan. Several months ago, reports appeared of two other nuclear facilities whose existence was not known - one in Arak, about 150 km. south of Tehran, for producing heavy water; the second in Natnaz, 40 km. southeast of Kashan. Experts note that Iran has no reason to enrich uranium using centrifuges unless it plans to manufacture nuclear weapons. Similarly, there is no cause for heavy water since the nuclear reactors in Bushar are based on light water. The debate among the experts is not whether Iran intends to produce nuclear weapons but whether it has already crossed the point of no return in the process toward their production.
2003-02-24 00:00:00
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