Iran reportedly making enriched-uranium precursor
U.S. official blasts 'profound show of bad faith' on eve of freeze
From Pam Benson and Elise Labott
CNN
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 Opposition group says Iran is developing nuclear weapons.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Iran is producing massive quantities of uranium hexaflouride on the eve of the implementation of an agreement to suspend its nuclear activity, U.S. and Western diplomats said Friday.
Uranium hexaflouride, also known as UF-6, can be fed into gas centrifuges and turned into highly enriched uranium -- the key energy component for both nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons.
The officials said Iran notified the International Atomic Energy Agency -- the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog -- of the UF-6 production just days before the nation's agreement to freeze all uranium enrichment activities goes into effect Monday.
Although Iran has said its uranium-enrichment activities are intended to produce fuel for nuclear power plants, the United States has said the program is aimed at building nuclear weapons.
This week, Iran agreed in a meeting with envoys from Britain, France and Germany to suspend enrichment activities. (Full story)
"We are alarmed," a Bush administration official said of Friday's developments. "This is a profound show of bad faith and violates the spirit of the agreement."
The official said the Bush administration plans to take up the issue with the British, French and Germans, as well as the IAEA. The administration feels the development will give a boost to U.S. efforts to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council when the IAEA board of governors meets next week, the official said.
The Western official said the facility where the UF-6 is being produced is visited regularly by IAEA inspectors and is legal under Iran's nuclear agreements. This is the first time the Iranians have tested the facility, the official said.
The successful operation of the plant demonstrates the Iranians "have mastered the technology to produce feed material," the diplomat said. "Little by little, Iran has acquired the indigenous capability to master the parts of a nuclear fuel cycle. They can build gas centrifuges and produce the materials that go into them."
IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said there "will be inspectors on the ground to verify Iran's suspension as of November 22," the day Iran's agreement to halt its uranium enrichment program goes into effect.
He said any new developments on Iran's nuclear program, including the suspension, will be included in the inspector-general's report presented at the board of governors meeting Thursday.
