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Iran Confirms Secret 2nd Nuclear Lab

Tehran preempts Obama accusation, admits to underground enrichment site

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 25, 2009 6:00 AM CDT

(Newser) – Iran confirmed today that it has built a second uranium enrichment site in an underground facility hidden from weapons inspectors—a revelation coming just hours before Barack Obama and other Western leaders were prepared to disclose it. The US has been tracking the secret project for years, officials say, but Obama decided to go public, before the G20 summit opens today, after Iran discovered that Western intelligence agencies had unearthed the site. This morning an anonymous Iranian official said that "reports by some foreign news agencies" about a "second enrichment center" were correct.

Iran has told the UN nuclear watchdog little, but Western officials tell the New York Times that the nuclear site is buried inside a mountain near Qom, the holy city about 100 miles from Tehran. It is supposedly not yet complete, although it can hold about 3,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium—enough to produce one nuclear bomb a year. One senior US official says the revelation will make it easier to obtain agreement on new sanctions: "They have cheated three times. And they have now been caught three times."

Barack Obama chairs a Security Council meeting at UN headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009. To his left are British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Barack Obama chairs a Security Council meeting at UN headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009. To his left are British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.   (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
A group of demonstrators shout during a protest against Iran's perceived threat of nuclear weapons, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009, in Washington.
A group of demonstrators shout during a protest against Iran's perceived threat of nuclear weapons, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009, in Washington.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran, waves following his address to the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly,  Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran, waves following his address to the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Barbed wire and a missile emplacement on the perimeter of a nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran, Wednesday Feb. 25, 2009.
Barbed wire and a missile emplacement on the perimeter of a nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran, Wednesday Feb. 25, 2009.   (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 7 comments
SilenceDogood
Sep 25, 2009 11:53 AM CDT
This has disaster written all over it. Crazies in Iran with Nuclear weapons; a group hugging, hesitant President chairing a UN security council; the Israelis feeling threatened with annihilation; the Taliban gaining force in Afghanistan; embittered political fighting in Congress; assets in a deflationary spiral globally; currency in a inflationary spiral globally; high unemployment globally and Russia on the rebound. It has the makings of an epic movie, too bad it’s for real.
guanlob
Sep 25, 2009 11:38 AM CDT
So?
drlarrymitchell
Sep 25, 2009 7:53 AM CDT
I'm SO FUCKING GLAD that our old president, the Shrub, pissed away all that Clinton surplus money in Iraq and Afghanistan, and leaving us far too over-exposed and broke to aggressively defend ourselves in North Korea or Iran if the need arises in the future. Thanks for not saving for this rainy day, Shrubbie!

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