Iran's president orders production of higher-enriched uranium
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday ordered the production of higher-enriched uranium -- significantly beyond the levels of its regular nuclear fuel -- prompting the United States to renew threats of carefully targeted sanctions. Ahmadinejad's instructions were followed by an announcement from the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization that Iran would alert the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday of its plans to "start making 20 percent enriched fuel on Tuesday."
David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) cautioned about drawing conclusions from Iran's announcement. "We will have to wait and see what the IAEA says about what it knows and when they knew it." Read an analysis by Albright’s and ISIS Senior Analyst Jacqueline Shire here.
UPDATE 2/9/10: See new analysis from ISIS here.
Mark Fitzpatrick, a proliferation expert at the Ploughshares-funded International Institute for Strategic Studies, described the proposal as a "farcical bluff". "Iran presumably could start construction by pushing dirt around for 10 new facilities, but there is no way it could begin to construct and equip that many more plants," he said in a recent BBC article, "It is hard-pressed today even to keep the centrifuges installed at Natanz running smoothly."
Washington Post
