New Iran nuclear plant up and running: IAEA

The UN atomic agency said Monday that Iran is now enriching uranium at a new site in a hard-to-bomb mountain bunker, in a move set to stoke Western suspicions further that Tehran wants nuclear weapons.The IAEA can confirm that Iran has started the production of uranium enriched up to 20 percent... in the Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant, International Atomic Energy Agency spokeswoman Gill Tudor said in a statement.All nuclear material in the facility remains under the Agencys containment and surveillance, the Vienna-based watchdog added.The Islamic republic admitted the existence of the previously secret facility in 2009 and earlier IAEA reports had said that Iranian scientists were preparing to begin operating the facilitys centrifuges.Iran, which insists its nuclear programme is for exclusively peaceful purposes, has repeatedly said it will not abandon uranium enrichment despite four rounds of UN Security Council resolutions calling on Tehran to desist.While nuclear energy plants need fuel enriched to 3.5 percent, Iran says the 20-percent enriched uranium is needed for its Tehran research reactor to make isotopes to treat cancers.Western powers, however, reject this, believing Iran has been researching ways to develop and deliver nuclear weapons, and has piled on sanction after sanction to try to halt the work.US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Monday that Irans move was a further escalation of their ongoing violations with regard to their nuclear obligations.At a time when the international community is asking Iran to provide assurances of the peaceful nature of its programme, this is a provocative act which further undermines Irans claims that its programme is entirely civilian in nature, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said.Germany said that the international communitys concern that the Iranian nuclear programme is serving military purposes is growing.Experts point out that the process of obtaining 20 percent enriched uranium represents most of the work needed to get the uranium enriched to the level of 90 percent or above required for atomic weapons.