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Email this StoryOct 6, 2:44 PM (ET)
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran has produced a few tons of the gas needed to enrich uranium, a top nuclear official indicated Wednesday, confirming the country has defied international demands and taken a necessary step toward producing nuclear fuel - or nuclear weapons.
The White House, which has been pressuring its allies to punish Iran for its nuclear ambitions, again accused Tehran of trying to build nuclear weapons and urged it Wednesday to suspend all enrichment activities.
Uranium hexafluoride gas is the material that, in the next stage, is fed into centrifuges used to enrich uranium. Uranium enriched to a low level is used to produce nuclear fuel to generate electricity; enriched further, it can be used to manufacture atomic bombs.
Iran said last month that it has started converting about 40 tons of raw uranium being mined for enrichment - plans the international community specifically said it found alarming. Iran maintains its intentions are peaceful energy purposes.
Hossein Mousavian, Iran's chief delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency, would not specify how much hexafluoride gas had been produced, but said a few tons of raw uranium - also known as yellowcake - had been converted. The conversion process yields nearly the same amount of hexafluoride gas.
(AP) Iran's chief delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Hossein Mousavian, who also heads...
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"We have used part of the raw uranium we had. A few tons of yellowcake has been converted," Mousavian told The Associated Press in an interview.
"We are not in a hurry to do it," Mousavian said. "The amount we've produced is (for) an experimental process, not industrial production."
Iranian and Western nuclear experts agreed that a few tons of yellowcake would produce a few tons of the gas used for enrichment. "When you convert raw uranium, you get more or less the same amount of hexafluoride gas," said Hossein Afarideh, an Iranian lawmaker who holds a doctorate in nuclear energy.
However, hexafluoride gas repeatedly spun in centrifuges yields a far smaller amount of low-grade uranium that can be used for fuel - and even less weapons-grade uranium.
Although Iran says it has no plans to produce weapons-grade uranium and the IAEA has said there is no evidence it is trying to do so, countries that do make nuclear weapons begin with about eight tons of yellowcake to make a typical bomb.
(AP) Iran's chief delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Hossein Mousavian, who also heads...
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White House spokesman Scott McClellan again accused Iran of trying to build a bomb.
"Iran needs to stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons," he said aboard Air Force One. "They agreed to suspend their enrichment and reprocessing and they need to abide by that."
"The international community is speaking very clearly to Iran: If they continue in the direction they are going we will have to look at what additional action may need to be taken, including looking to the U.N. Security Council," he added.
Mousavian, who also heads the Foreign Policy Committee at Iran's powerful Supreme National Security Council, said the process was fully under the supervision of the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear agency.
"The agency knows of every milligram of uranium converted," he said.
(AP) Iran's chief delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Hossein Mousavian, who also heads...
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In Vienna, IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming agreed the process was "being done fully under IAEA's watch," but said she could not immediately confirm how far the Iranians had gotten.
"Inspectors are visiting that facility, and we have other verification tools that are providing us with constant information about the operation of that facility," Fleming said.
A diplomat close to the agency told the AP in Vienna that although the conversion does not contradict Iran's obligations, it will be viewed by some countries as a provocation.
Iran has thus far said it is honoring a pledge not to put uranium hexafluoride gas into centrifuges, spin it and make enriched uranium.
Last month, the IAEA's board of governors unanimously passed a resolution demanding that Iran freeze all work on uranium enrichment, including conversion. It specifically expressed alarm at Iran's plans to convert the more than 40 tons of raw uranium into uranium hexafluoride.
(AP) Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi, speaks with media, during his weekly news...
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The board suggested Iran may have to answer to the U.N. Security Council if it defied the demands. The resolution said the next board meeting, scheduled for Nov. 25, would "decide whether or not further steps are appropriate" in ensuring Iran complies.
A diplomat familiar with Iran's conversion activities told the AP in Vienna last month that Iran had stopped at a precursor of uranium hexafluoride - apparently waiting for a decision from the leadership to finish the process.
Mousavian was clear Wednesday that Iran had produced the actual gas.
He said Iran was ready to guarantee that its nuclear program will not be diverted to a military use and take specific measures to eliminate concerns about Tehran's nuclear program.
"IAEA is the responsible body for nonproliferation. Iran is prepared to consider any IAEA proposal to take specific measures that its nuclear program will not be diverted toward weapons in the future. The specific measures should be defined by IAEA," he said.
Mousavian warned that the international community, not Iran, will suffer if his country is referred to the U.N. Security Council and sanctioned. He reiterated Iranian warnings that Tehran will stop implementing what is known as the additional protocol to Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which allows unfettered IAEA inspections of Iranian facilities.
"Referring Iran to U.N. will not change the nuclear capability we already possess. The victim will be the additional protocol and NPT (nonproliferation treaty), not Iran," he said.
Mousavian noted Iran has allowed international inspections of its facilities, including military sites.
"Up to now, Iran has not rejected a single IAEA request for inspections," he said. "This is the maximum of transparency and cooperation a member state can have with IAEA."
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