Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff warns
applying pressure on Iran "could be undone if [Iran] was attacked
prematurely" • IAEA report confirms Tehran has continued to expand
nuclear program and has nearly 190 kg of higher-grade enriched uranium •
200-250 kg needed for bomb.
Chairman of Joint Chiefs of
Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey warns against attacking Iran.
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Photo credit: AP  |
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U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Martin Dempsey has reinforced Washington's opposition to
unilateral Israel military action against Iran, saying "I don't want to
be complicit if they [Israel] choose to do it."
Speaking to reporters in London on Thursday,
where he was in town for the opening of the London 2012 Paralympic Games
as head of the U.S. delegation, Dempsey said he did not know Iran's
nuclear intentions, as intelligence did not reveal intentions. What was
clear, he said, was that the "international coalition" applying pressure
on Iran "could be undone if [Iran] was attacked prematurely." Sanctions
against Iran were having an effect, and they should be given a
reasonable opportunity to succeed, he said.
Dempsey reiterated the American assessment
that an Israeli attack on Iran would delay but probably not stop its
nuclear program. His comments came as the United Nation's nuclear
watchdog published a report that affirmed Iran has doubled the number of
uranium enrichment centrifuges it has in an underground bunker.
The report by the International Atomic Energy
Agency on Thursday confirms that Tehran has continued to expand its
nuclear program despite Western pressure, sanctions and the threat of an
Israeli strike.
The quarterly report on the Iranian program
found that the Islamic Republic is rapidly increasing the enrichment
capacity of its Fordo site, buried deep underground to withstand any
military strike. In addition, buildings at the site had been demolished
and earth removed at a military site the IAEA wants to inspect, in what
Western diplomats see as a determined effort by Tehran to clean up any evidence of illicit nuclear-linked tests.
These "extensive activities" at the Parchin
complex, the Vienna-based U.N. agency added, would significantly hamper
its investigation there, if and when inspectors are allowed access.
The building, which the IAEA believes is
housing a steel chamber for explosives tests, has now been "shrouded,"
the report said, in a possible attempt to hide it from satellite
cameras.
In another apparent sign of stonewalling of
the IAEA's inquiry, it said "no concrete results" had been achieved in a
series of high-profile meetings with Iran this year aimed at allaying
concern about its nuclear research.
"Iran's continued enrichment activities ...
serve to taunt all those in the international community concerned by
Iran's nuclear program," a senior Western diplomat said.
In Washington, the White House said the U.S.
had made it clear to Iran that it has a limited window of time to stop
its nuclear activity and diplomatic terms offered by the West would not
remain open indefinitely.
"We are closely studying the details of the
report, but broadly speaking it is not surprising that Iran is
continuing to violate its obligations," Press Secretary Jay Carney said.
The IAEA said the number of centrifuges at
Fordo, near the holy Shi'ite Muslim city of Qom, about 130 km (80 miles)
from the capital Tehran, had more than doubled to 2,140 from 1,064 in
May. The new machines were not yet operating, it said.
Iran's supreme leader repeated this week
that Iran's nuclear program was entirely peaceful. "Our motto is
nuclear energy for all and nuclear weapons for none," Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei told the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran.
But the expansion in enrichment infrastructure
and the stockpiles of nuclear material revealed in the IAEA's report
will do nothing to ease fears or reduce the diplomatic and sanctions
pressure on Iran.
The report may strengthen a belief in Israel –
which sees Iran's nuclear program as an existential threat – that the
West's tougher economic sanctions against Tehran this year are failing
to make the major oil producer curb its program.
"This report corroborates what [Prime Minister
Benjamin] Netanyahu has been saying for years now," an Israeli official
said, referring to his view that the diplomatic process had only given
Iran more time to pursue its program.
The IAEA said Iran had produced nearly 190 kg
(418 pounds) of higher-grade enriched uranium since 2010, up from 145 kg
in May, although a large part of that had been earmarked for conversion
to reactor fuel. Refined uranium can have both civilian or military
uses, depending on the enrichment level.
Iran says it needs the higher-grade material –
which is much purer than fuel needed for electricity generation – for a
medical research reactor, but it also takes it significantly closer to
making potential bomb material.
Iran would need about 200-250 kg of uranium
refined to 20 percent fissile concentration if it wanted to make one
bomb, a decision it is not believed to have taken yet, experts say.
"Iran would not likely want to take the
dramatic step of breaking out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT) until it has enough material for several bombs – a point that it
will not likely be able to reach for two years or more," said a source
at the Arms Control Association, a U.S. research and advocacy group.
IAEA reports have expressed deepening concerns
about Parchin, a military site southeast of Tehran that it wants to
inspect for evidence of past nuclear weapons development tests.
"Significant ground scraping and landscaping have been undertaken over
an extensive area at and around the location," one report said.
According to IAEA reports, five buildings or
other structures had been demolished and power lines, fences and paved
roads removed; activities that would hamper its investigation if granted
access.
Iranian officials have said Parchin is a conventional
military facility and have dismissed the allegations about it as
"ridiculous."
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