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Nuke fears rise as Iran ramps up uranium enrichment

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Iran began enriching uranium Tuesday to the threshold at which it could set off a nuclear reaction, following through on a warning it had issued a day before, state media said.

The enrichment was taking place at its Natanz facility under the surveillance of U.N. nuclear watchdog inspectors, Tehran said.

An official with the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that a team of inspectors was on site.

The United States and its allies fear Iran intends to build a nuclear bomb, while Tehran says its nuclear program is for civilian energy and medical use.

On Monday, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali-Asghar Soltanieh, said his country had handed the agency a letter stating its intention to enrich uranium to 20 percent.

Russia, a key player in the negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, intervened Tuesday.

A top Russian security official said that although his country still favors a "political-diplomatic" settlement, "everything has its limits, and any patience may come to an end."

"Iran asserts that it doesn't seek nuclear weapons and is developing a peaceful atomic energy program. But the actions it undertakes, including its decision to enrich its low-enriched uranium to 20 percent -- those actions are causing other countries to have doubts [about the nature of that program], and those doubts are quite justified," Russian Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev said in a news conference in Moscow, Russia.

Patrushev also said his Iranian counterpart had failed to show up for a scheduled meeting.

"I was to meet with (Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council)," he said. "The meeting was scheduled for a time shortly before they made their announcement on the 20 percent uranium enrichment. He did not arrive. ...

"We are interested in a dialogue, so that [the Iranians] could explain [to] us what's going on. But this does not always work," he said.

Tehran saw a relatively unusual outburst of anti-Italian and anti-French sentiment Tuesday.

About 100 people demonstrated outside the Italian and French embassies, shouting "Down with the USA, France, and Italy," and other slogans, the Italian Foreign Ministry in Rome said.

The French Embassy was pelted with eggs and stones, while the Italian Embassy was not, Rome said.

The demonstrations lasted about 20 minutes and were peacefully dispersed by police. It was the first demonstration in Tehran outside the Italian Embassy in a number of years, the Italian foreign ministry said.

It was not clear why the embassies were targeted, but there were reports during anti-government demonstrations in December that the diplomatic missions took in wounded protesters.

The level to which Iran is enriching the uranium -- 20 percent -- is considered "highly enriched," the U.S. National Research Council says on its Web site. That's the threshold for uranium capable of setting off a nuclear reaction.

Iran says it is enriching the uranium from its current 3.5 percent to meet the demands of the country's cancer patients.

State-run Press TV said the country needs 126 kilograms (264 pounds) of 20 percent enriched uranium to fuel a research reactor, which produces isotopes for cancer patients and is running out of fuel.

Even as tensions rise over Iran's decision to defy the world on the enrichment issue, Soltanieh said the window for nuclear negotiations is still open.

"If they [other countries] come to the conclusion that they had better have a cooperative environment or approach, rather than the language of threat, and they are ready to come to the negotiating table, our proposal is still on the table," he told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday.

Last October, the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany gave Iran a deadline of January this year to accept a deal on sending some low-level uranium out of the country for enrichment.

Tehran did not accept that deal and instead made a counteroffer, details of which have not been disclosed.

In the past, the Iranians have signaled concerns about whether any fuel they send out of the country would be returned.

Soltanieh said Iran had decided to advance its enrichment program because it had waited months for international action.

"For nine months, we have hesitated to do so because we wanted to give the opportunity for the others. We think the framework of the IAEA [is] to have some sort of international cooperation to open a new chapter of cooperation, rather than confrontation."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said Tehran is still open to talks over a nuclear fuel swap, Iran's state-backed Press TV reported Tuesday.

"We have announced our conditions in a clear and transparent way. If the other sides provide our conditions and adopt a realistic approach, it (the swap) would be possible," Mehman-Parast told reporters on Tuesday.

But even if the deal were agreed, Iran could still continue producing its own highly enriched uranium too, he said.

"It (the swap) by no means goes counter to our obtaining the required fuel through other means," Mehman-Parast said, reiterating that Iran had the right to produce highly enriched uranium for its medical reactor under the supervision of the IAEA.

On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry demanded that Iran fulfill the U.N.-backed plan to send its uranium abroad for further enrichment.

"We still operate under the assumption that the current situation can be resolved by Iran's fulfillment of the agreements reached in Geneva on October 1, 2009, which involve sending fuel for the Tehran research center abroad for enrichment," the Russian Foreign Ministry statement said.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/...ex.html?hpt=T2

Not good.