February 19, 2004

Nuclear machinery found at Iranian Air Force base

From USA Today: bq. United Nations inspectors have found sophisticated uranium-enrichment machinery at an air force base outside Iran's capital, Tehran, U.S. and foreign sources with knowledge of the discovery say. bq. The find at Doshen-Tappen air base appears to undermine Iran's claim it is not pursuing a nuclear bomb. The discovery may strengthen calls for action by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog. And not just any kind of machinery: bq. Last week, U.N. inspectors looking through Iranian nuclear documents found drawings of a so-called P-2 gas centrifuge, twice as productive as a model Iran has acknowledged using to enrich uranium. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi on Tuesday admitted Iran is doing research on the P-2, but for peaceful purposes. This is a centrifuge quite different from the one that they initially owned up to. Again, if they are doing research for peaceful purposes, why is this being done at a military base and why do they need nuclear energy at all when they are swimming in oil... Regime change now please! Posted by DaveH at February 19, 2004 11:39 AM