Watchdog’s secret report reveals Iran nuclear fear

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is “increasingly concerned” about possible work in Iran to develop a nuclear payload for a missile, it said in a confidential report leaked yesterday.

In addition to addressing the alleged military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme, the report said Tehran had begun installing machines for higher-grade uranium enrichment in an underground bunker near the holy city of Qom.

Shifting enrichment activity to such a subterranean site could offer greater protection against any attacks by Israel or the United States, which have refused to rule out pre-emptive strikes to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.

Iran, said the IAEA, had begun enriching uranium at a separate site with a more advanced centrifuge than the model it had been using for years.

Uranium enriched to a low level of fissile purity is suitable for running civilian nuclear power plants. If refined to a much higher degree, it forms the core of nuclear bombs.

The developments highlighted in the IAEA’s latest quarterly inspection report on Iran are likely to fan western worries about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

The IAEA report said it was “increasingly concerned about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed nuclear-related activities involving military-related organisations, including activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile, about which the agency continues to receive new information.”

Iran denies any nuclear weapon ambitions, saying it wants to refine uranium only for electricity or isotopes for medicine and agriculture. However, it continues to restrict IAEA inspections.