Spanish:
 
|
Iran to build nuclear bomb within three years: report
AFP
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com 03 25 06Iran is moving faster than expected toward enriching uranium and could manufacture enough of it to build a bomb within three years, The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
Citing unnamed diplomats who have been briefed on the program, the newspaper said new information about Iran's program came from diplomats representing countries on the UN Security Council, who were briefed by senior staff of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to halt its nuclear work appeared to be faltering in the face of distrust among powerful Security Council members and disagreements over the best strategy, the report said.
"We're getting conflicting signals from the United States; it now appears they want to escalate the situation," the paper quoted a senior diplomat in Vienna as saying. "The Russians see that as a slippery slope."
Iran is on the verge of feeding uranium gas into centrifuges, the first step toward enrichment, the paper said. That move is in keeping with Iran's experience level and its previous statements.
According to one non-Western official who closely follows Iran's progress, engineers at a pilot plant in Natanz are likely to start crucial testing in the next couple of days to ensure that the centrifuges and the pipes connecting them are properly vacuum sealed, The Times said.
They are likely to begin feeding uranium hexafluoride gas into a series of 164 connected centrifuges within about two weeks, according to the report.
Diplomats and experts say Iran has forgone usual testing periods for individual centrifuges and small series of linked centrifuges, instead apparently trying to put together as many as possible, as quickly as possible, The Times pointed out.
03/25/2006 03:56 - AFP
Copyright © 1994-2006 Agence France-Presse. All Rights Reserved.
Your
feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.
Write to editor@petroleumworld.com
Any
question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com
Best
Viewed with IE
5.01+
Windows
NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels