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Iran 'has atomic bomb capability' Uranium found at second Syria site - IAEA
(about 2 hours later)
A UN report says Iran now has enough uranium to make an atomic bomb. The UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, says traces of undeclared man-made uranium have been found at a second site in Syria, at a reactor in Damascus.
The UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, says Iran has amassed more than 1,300kg of uranium - well over the amount needed to make a single atomic bomb. The IAEA is investigating US claims that a Syrian site destroyed in a 2007 Israeli raid was a nuclear reactor that was not yet operational.
Iran has ignored UN resolutions ordering it to stop enriching uranium, saying its programme is peaceful. Separately, the agency says Iran is continuing to enrich uranium in defiance of the UN Security Council.
In a separate report about Syria, the IAEA says particles of manmade uranium have been found at a research reactor in the capital, Damascus. Both Iran and Syria deny allegations of illicit nuclear activities.
In a confidential report obtained by the BBC, it says the uranium is of a type not included in Syria's declared nuclear material. 'Link unclear'
The agency is looking into US intelligence reports that Syria had almost built a North Korean-designed nuclear reactor capable of yielding weapons-grade plutonium before Israel bombed it in 2007. Last year, the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) found particles of man-made uranium at the al-Kibar site in Syria, which was destroyed by Israeli missiles in September 2007.
Last year the IAEA found particles of manmade uranium at the remote al-Kibar site in northern Syria. Now in a confidential report obtained by the BBC, it says it has discovered new traces of uranium of a type not included in Syria's declared nuclear material.
'Little Progress' The traces were found at a small reactor used for teaching in Damascus.
The UN Security Council wants Iran to stop all enrichment programmes pending an IAEA investigation into its uranium development programme. The IAEA says it is not clear whether there is a link between the particles found at the two sites.
In its report, the agency said Iran was still defying the Security Council and had so far amassed 1,339kg of low-enriched uranium at its plant in Natanz. In a separate report, the IAEA says Iran now has about 7,000 centrifuges - the machines used for enriching uranium. The agency says that Tehran is running almost 5,000 of them.
Analysts calculate that anywhere between 1,000-1,700kg of low-enriched uranium is enough to make one atomic bomb. It also says that Iran has boosted its stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) by 500kg to more than 1,300kg in the last six months.
There were still "outstanding issues which give rise to concerns, and which need to be clarified to exclude the existence of possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear programme", the IAEA said. David Albright of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security think-tank has said that Iran now had enough LEU to convert into high-enriched uranium (HEU) to make one atomic bomb.
The agency says Iran is refusing to allow more rigorous inspections and was blocking requests for access to "relevant information". However, he said Iran would need to overcome some technical hurdles to achieve this - a process that could take several years or more.
Israel has expressed alarm over Iran's nuclear programme, particularly after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the Jewish state to be "wiped from the map". A senior official close to the IAEA says the agency has made little progress in its investigations in Iran and in Syria.
However, earlier this week Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel did not intend to bomb Iran, adding: "It is not a problem for Israel, it is a problem for the Middle East." The agency has urged both countries to co-operate with its inspectors.