BICOM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that the latest report on Iran’s nuclear programme shows that Israel is correct in believing Tehran is covertly pursuing nuclear weapons capability.

The International Atomic Energy Agency released a report to member states Friday evening saying Iran had yet to account for a small amount of uranium that had gone missing. The report also said that Tehran had augmented its enrichment activity in the fortified underground facility at Fordo, near the city of Qom.

The Iranians now have approximately 5.4 tons of low-grade uranium that could be used in the future — after it is enriched to a high level of around 90 per cent — to make four nuclear weapons. Iran also has 100 kilograms of uranium enriched to a level of 20 per cent and is producing another 11 kilograms of such uranium every month. However, the IAEA report noted that the advanced centrifuges that enrich uranium were experiencing trouble and progressing slower than expected.

“The IAEA report constitutes additional proof that the State of Israel’s assessments are correct,” A statement from Prime Minister’s Office said Saturday night. “Iran is continuing with its nuclear program without let-up; it is enriching uranium to a high level of 20% while grossly ignoring the demands of the international community.”

The IAEA report claims the missing uranium was reported last year when measurements by international inspectors last year did not match the amount declared by the laboratory. According to the report, experts claim the amount of missing uranium is too small to be used for a bomb, but could be used for weapons-linked tests.