Iran to Convert Uranium Batch

Iran plans to convert 37 tons of uranium into a substance that could be used to manufacture nuclear weapons, the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency said in a report Wednesday.

Although the Iranian plans do not violate nonproliferation regulations because the material also has peaceful uses, they immediately stoked concern in Washington about the aims of Tehran’s ambitious nuclear program.

“Iran’s announcements are further strong evidence of the compelling need to take Iran’s nuclear program to the Security Council,” said U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton, who called Iran’s nuclear efforts a “threat to international peace and security.”

Iran’s intentions were disclosed in a confidential report prepared by the International Atomic Energy Agency that was obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

Iran insists that its nuclear program is intended solely to generate electricity. The United States has repeatedly accused Tehran of concealing a weapons program behind a civilian facade.

In its sixth report on the Iranian program, the atomic agency gave it mixed marks. It praised Iran for cooperating on many fronts, but said key aspects of its nuclear activities were still unclear because of missing information.

The two primary areas of concern are the sources of uranium contamination found at four locations during the last year in Iran and the extent of the country’s efforts to develop advanced centrifuges for turning uranium gas into enriched uranium, which can be used in weapons or to fuel civilian reactors.

The report provided explanations for traces of weapons-grade uranium discovered at a huge enrichment plant under construction near the central Iranian city of Natanz and at a formerly secret facility outside Tehran known as Kalaye Electric Co.

The IAEA report said Iran’s statement that the contamination came from components bought from another country was “plausible.” It also said there was no indication that Iran had tried to produce weapons-grade uranium at those two locations.

The country that supplied the contaminated components was not named in the report, but diplomats familiar with the inquiry confirmed that it was Pakistan. They said Pakistan had provided samples of enriched uranium that matched some of the traces found at Natanz and Kalaye.

However, the atomic agency was still investigating other possible sources of the highly enriched uranium and lower-grade uranium traces, the report said, leaving open the possibility that Iran enriched uranium itself at other locations, said a Western diplomat who reviewed the document.

“The IAEA still needs more cooperation from other states, mainly Pakistan, to determine whether Iran enriched its own uranium,” the diplomat said in a telephone interview from Vienna, where the agency is based.

Hamid Reza Asefi, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, issued a statement in Tehran acknowledging that some questions remained about the nuclear program. But he said they would be resolved soon.

The latest report was circulated among diplomats Wednesday and will be debated next week when the agency’s board of governors meets in Vienna.

Jon B. Wolfsthal, a nonproliferation expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said the IAEA had not found proof that Iran was operating a secret weapons program, but he said long-range concerns remained.

“Iran still has an active nuclear program that will give it the ability to make weapons if it wants,” Wolfsthal said.

Diplomats in Vienna said the United States probably would point to Iran’s ambitious uranium conversion plans as evidence of the need for tougher steps to restrict its nuclear program.

The IAEA report said Iranian officials had told the agency this summer that they were planning to convert 37 tons of yellowcake, or milled uranium, into uranium hexafluoride gas. Experts said the gas could be used to produce enough highly enriched uranium for several nuclear bombs or to fuel civilian reactors.

Iran, which has the right to enrich the uranium, said it plans to conduct the tests under IAEA supervision.

The Western diplomat speculated that Iran was using the threat of an industrial-size conversion to persuade Britain, France and Germany to fulfill promises made last year to share advanced nuclear technology.

The European countries agreed to provide the technology in exchange for Iran’s pledge to stop enriching uranium and halt production of centrifuges, machines that spin uranium hexafluoride into enriched uranium for weapons or power plants.

Iran reneged this summer on its pledge not to produce centrifuges, and the plan to convert yellowcake could increase pressure on the European countries to start either sharing technology or getting tougher with Tehran, diplomats said.

Undersecretary Bolton said the U.S. viewed “with great concern the IAEA report that Iran is about to convert 37 tons of yellowcake uranium into uranium hexafluoride gas.”

Times staff writer Greg Miller in Washington contributed to this report.