UN Says Iran Produced Plutonium

Iran said yesterday that it had frozen its uranium enrichment projects in response to pressure from the international community, which fears the programmes could culminate in a nuclear bomb.

The move by Tehran to ward off the threat of UN sanctions came as the director general of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, released a report containing fresh revelations about the Iranian nuclear programme.

Reuters reported last night that the IAEA assessment showed Iran acknowledged producing a small amount of plutonium, a material useable in a nuclear bomb. The report also said the country had "acknowledged that 'a limited number of tests using small amounts of [uranium hexafluoride] had been conducted in 1999 and 2002' at the Kalaye electric company", despite earlier denials from Tehran.

The report also said Iran had admitted establishing a laser uranium-enrichment plant that it kept secret from the UN nuclear watchdog. "Given Iran's past pattern of concealment, it will take some time before the agency is able to conclude that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes," Reuters quoted the report as saying.

The IAEA said the nuclear declaration, delivered ahead of an October 31 deadline for Tehran to come clean about its atomic past, made "clear that Iran has failed in a number of instances over an extended period of time to meet its obligations".

Iran sent Dr ElBaradei a letter last night agreeing to sign an "additional protocol" allowing snap UN nuclear inspections. The concessions were announced by Iranian national security chief, Hassan Rohani, during a visit to Moscow.

Russia is Iran's sole nuclear partner and Mr Rohani was rewarded by a declaration from President Vladimir Putin that there were now no "obstacles to cooperating with Iran in the nuclear sphere", despite intense pressure from Washington for Moscow to halt its nuclear assistance to Iran.

"From today we are temporarily suspending our process of uranium enrichment," Mr Rohani said.

An IAEA meeting on November 20 will decide how to proceed on the issue of Iran. The Americans are pushing for the IAEA to declare Iran non-compliant with its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and to report it to the UN security council, which could decree punitive sanctions.