Iran 'to build two new nuclear sites this year'

The head of Iran's nuclear programme has said the country will build two new uranium enrichment facilities within the next year.

Ali Akbar Salehi, who is also Iran's vice-president, said the new facilities would be built in the mountains to protect them from attack.

The UN nuclear watchdog last week said it was concerned Iran might currently be trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran's supreme leader denied the enrichment of uranium was for weapons.

Tehran has always maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful.

But the US and other nations, which fear Iran is seeking nuclear arms, have been pressing for the UN to impose further sanctions over the issue.

Baseless' fears

Mr Salehi said the facilities would use new and more advanced centrifuges, according to the semi-official Iranian news agency Isna.

The two sites are reportedly the first of 10 to be built in a plan announced by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last November.

The centrifuges might allow the Iranians to speed up the development of nuclear material.

Tehran has said it wants to enrich uranium to 20%, more than it has previously done.

The country says it is doing this to produce isotopes for medical use and to generate electricity.

But according to an unusually forthright report by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released last week, Iran's level of co-operation with the agency is decreasing, adding to concerns about "possible military dimensions" to its nuclear programme.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said any fears were "baseless", as Iranians' beliefs "bar us from using such weapons".

Last year Iran revealed a previously unknown nuclear facility in the mountains near the city of Qom.

Previously it was believed that the only type of centrifuge Iran possessed were decades-old and in the the country's main enrichment facility at Natanz, which is monitored by the IAEA.

The facility near Qom had not become operational before its existence was announced.




- While I'd really like to give Iran the benefit of the doubt and believe that their nuclear activities are purely peaceful, it seems a little hard to believe. The fact that there will be so many sites scattered around Iran is a little unsettling in itself, but based on Iran's history with nuclear weapons, I think that the concern being demonstrated by other countries is understandable. However, the fact that they only want to enrich uranium to 20%, significantly less than the approximately 85% normally seen in nuclear weapons, helps to put my mind at ease somewhat. For the moment at least, I think Iran should be able to continue what they're doing because they haven't come close to doing anything wrong as of right now. I think it's important to keep an eye on this sort of nuclear activity, though, and monitor it to make sure it doesn't escalate into something far from peaceful.