Iran continues to defy UN demands to stop enriching uranium and is expanding the work, the UN nuclear watchdog said in a report Wednesday. "Iran has not suspended its enrichment related activities," the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
Iran has also failed to give the cooperation IAEA inspectors need to "provide assurances about . . . the exclusively peaceful nature" of Iran's nuclear program, the IAEA said, according to AFP.
The IAEA assessment "is a laundry list of Iran's continued defiance of the international community and shows that Iran's leaders are only furthering the isolation of the Iranian people," said White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
Britain said it would consult its allies on what to do next. "We believe that full suspension of Iran's enrichment activities is the only acceptable confidence building measure to allow formal talks to begin," a Foreign Office spokesman said.
At an underground facility in Natanz, Iran was feeding as of May 13 1,312 centrifuge machines with the uranium gas need to make enriched uranium, said the confidential report by IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei, AFP said.
The IAEA report said Iran has "reached enrichment levels up to 4.8 percent U-235," enough for fuel but far below the 90 percent enrichment needed to make weapons. The IAEA also reported that its ability to monitor the Iranian nuclear program had "deteriorated" due to a lack of cooperation.
