By DPA
Vienna : Iran is ready to soon test a new generation of more advanced centrifuges for enriching uranium, diplomats in Vienna have said, even though the UN Security Council has ordered the country to suspend the process.
The moves comes as the Security Council powers along with Germany have agreed on the text of a new resolution this week that would bump up some pre-existing sanctions against the Islamic state for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
Despite Iran’s defiance of the Security Council, diplomats Friday viewed Iran’s decision to inform the UN nuclear monitoring body known as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as “significant” because the country has been accused of not coming clean on its nuclear activities.
Tehran intends to test the new centrifuges soon, possibly at its chief nuclear facility at Natanz, where there are currently 3,000 older centrifuges operating.
IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei was informed of the Iranian plans when he visited the country two weeks ago after Tehran agreed to resolve any outstanding questions about the extent of its nuclear work.
“There may be real commitment to be more open,” one diplomat familiar with the issue said. However, the real test for Iran’s bid for transparency will be determined when ElBaradei submits his report to the IAEA’s governing board next month in Vienna, the diplomats cautioned.
The US along with partners Britain and France worry Iran could use the uranium enrichment process to development material that could be used to build a nuclear weapons, and have already pushed two sanctions resolutions through the Security Council.
Iran maintains its programme is solely for civilian energy, and has vowed not to give in to international pressure to halt uranium enrichment.
The new centrifuges are more than twice as efficient as their predecessors and could heighten concerns that Iran could be in a position to produce material for nuclear weapons more quickly than previously believed.
The diplomats said, however, that the newest centrifuges have not been proven reliable, in part because international sanctions have limited Iran’s ability to obtain the latest centrifuge technology.
A US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) concluded in December that Iran had stopped its weapons programme in 2003 due to international pressure, but remained in a position to resume its nuclear work and did not rule out the possibility that Iran could have enough fissile material to build a bomb in about 10 years.