US wants Iran sanctions in weeks 

Source: Reuters

The Pentagon said that the United States wanted a UN Security Council resolution "within weeks" to tackle Iran's nuclear programme as Iran said it had begun making higher-grade nuclear fuel.

The Islamic Republic, which denies its programme has military aims, defied the international community by announcing on Sunday that it would enrich uranium to 20% purity for a Tehran reactor making medical isotopes for cancer patients.

As tensions with the West rose and Russia indicated it could back fresh UN sanctions, members of an Islamic militia threw stones at the Italian embassy in Tehran.

The big powers have already stepped up discussions on how to respond to Iran and what form a possible fourth set of UN sanctions over its still-expanding nuclear programme could take.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Fox News: "I think it's going to take some period of time - I would say weeks, not months - to see if we can't get another UN Security Council resolution," according to the transcript of his interview.

Enrichment stepped up

State television quoted Iranian nuclear agency chief Ali Akbar Salehi as saying that "enrichment to 20% started in the Natanz facility under the supervision of the (International Atomic Energy Agency)."

This followed a failure to agree on a swap with major powers, under which Iran would send most of its low-enriched uranium abroad in return for 20-percent-pure fuel rods for the reactor.

Despite its denials, Western powers fear Iran is enriching uranium with a view to producing nuclear weapons.

Iran currently enriches uranium to 3.5% purity.

Salehi said Iran had set up a chain of 164 centrifuges to refine the uranium to 20% purity. He said the production capacity was 3 to 5 kg a month, above the Tehran reactor's needs of 1.5 kg, ISNA news agency reported.

Although a nuclear bomb requires about 90 percent purity, getting to 20% is a big step because low-level enrichment is the most time-consuming and difficult stage of the process.

Iran currently has no nuclear power plants able to use the low-enriched uranium it has already produced, and also lacks the technology to convert the 20% pure uranium into the fuel rods needed to run the medical reactor.

"I think Iran all along intended to enrich to 20%," said Mark Fitzpatrick, proliferation expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, "ostensibly to supply the research reactor but also to gain experience enriching to higher levels that would prove useful for weapons production."

Russia, which in the past has urged talks rather than punishment, said Iran's move to enrich uranium to 20 percent purity was a clear breach of United Nations resolutions.

"Political-diplomatic methods are important for a resolution, but there is a limit to everything," said Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the presidential Security Council, according to Interfax news agency.

China holds out

Among the big powers only China, which can block any UN sanctions, has remained unswervingly opposed to punishing Iran.

On Tuesday it urged increased diplomatic efforts, calling for all sides to work towards a deal on the fuel exchange plan.

Possible targets for any new sanctions include Iran's central bank, the Revolutionary Guards, who Western powers say are key to Iran's nuclear programme, shipping firms and its energy sector, Western diplomats say.

Last week Italy said it was blocking new Italian investments in the sector. It was not clear if this had prompted the protest at the Italian embassy in Tehran.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said members of Iran's Basij militia had attacked the embassy with stones.

"About a hundred Basij dressed as civilians tried to assault the embassy shouting 'Death to Italy' and 'Death to Berlusconi (Italian Prime Minister)'," he told the Senate in Rome, adding that police had intervened to "stop a full-blown assault".

Analysts say Iran will need a few months to reconfigure the Natanz plant to refine uranium to higher purity.

It may also have difficulty obtaining crucial components due to UN sanctions, said the analysts.

Salehi told state TV late on Monday that Iran was still prepared to carry out the fuel swap if its conditions were met:

"The president announced that we will start production of 20% enriched uranium, but he has kept the doors of interaction open ... which means we would stop working (enrichment to 20%) if they provide us the necessary fuel."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Iran's sworn enemy Israel, widely believed to be the region's only nuclear armed state, demanded immediate sanctions against Iran.

"Iran is racing forward to produce nuclear weapons," Netanyahu told European diplomats.

"This means crippling sanctions and these sanctions must be applied right now."