Washington, Aug.4 (ANI): Iran has claimed to have made significant progress in speeding up its nuclear program, raising new concerns in Washington and other Western capitals that Tehran could significantly shorten the time it would need to produce nuclear bombs.
In recent weeks, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has notified United Nations inspectors that it has begun deploying what are described as second- and third-generation centrifuges at its uranium-enrichment facility in the city of Natanz, according to diplomats briefed on the correspondence.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Tehran has also said that it plans to set up these advanced machines at an underground uranium-enrichment site run by Iran's elite military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, near the holy city of Qom, said these officials.
Iran denies it seeks to develop nuclear weapons.
The more-advanced centrifuges, called IR-2Ms and IR-4s, are believed to be capable of enriching uranium at rates three times as fast as those Tehran currently uses, the IR-1s.
Any significant deployment of these machines in the coming months, said U.S. and European officials, could significantly shorten the time, in the Obama administration's assessment, that Iran could produce the highly enriched uranium needed to create nuclear weapons.
U.S. officials estimate that Tehran would now need 18 months to two years to convert its stockpile of low-enriched uranium-around 4,000 kilograms-into the weapons-grade material for a bomb.
A successful deployment of new IR-2M and IR-4 machines could cut this time in half, if not by more, depending on their numbers and efficiency, said these officials.
Nuclear experts estimate Iran has enough low-enriched uranium to produce nearly four bombs, if the material is enriched further to weapons-grade.
U.S. and European officials have said they are concerned about Iran's recent announcements. (ANI)
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