Iran has doubled the number of uranium enrichment machines it has in an underground bunker, a U.N. report said Thursday, showing Tehran has continued to defy Western pressure to stop its atomic work and the threat of Israeli attack.
The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in its quarterly report on Iran that the number of centrifuges at its Fordow site -- buried deep underground to withstand any such hit -- had more than doubled to 2,140 from 1,064 in May. The new machines were not yet operating, it said.
“… as Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation… the Agency is unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities,” the report said.
“… the Agency considers it essential for Iran to engage with the Agency without further delay on the substance of the Agency’s concerns,” it added. “In the absence of such engagement, the Agency will not be able to resolve concerns about issues regarding the Iranian nuclear program, including those which need to be clarified to exclude the existence of possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program.”
Iran's supreme leader repeated this week that Iran's nuclear program was entirely peaceful.
"Our motto is nuclear energy for all and nuclear weapons for none," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a developing nations summit in Tehran.
S. African telecom firm helped Iran evade US sanctions, documents show
But the expansion in enrichment infrastructure and the increasing in stockpiles of potent nuclear material revealed in the report will do nothing to allay fears or reduce the diplomatic sanctions and pressure on Iran.
The report showed that Iran had produced nearly 190 kg (418 pounds) of higher-grade enriched uranium since 2010, up from 145 kg (320 pounds) in May.
Iran says it needs this material, which is much purer than fuel needed for electricity generation, for a medical research reactor, but it also takes it significantly closer to making potential bomb material.
UN chief denounces Iran to its face over calls to destroy Israel
The IAEA also expressed concerns about Parchin, a military site south of the capital that it wants to inspect for evidence of past nuclear weapons development.
"Significant ground scraping and landscaping have been undertaken over an extensive area at and around the location," it said.
Five buildings had been demolished and power lines, fences and paved roads removed, the report said, "extensive activities" that would hamper its investigation if granted access.
"The activities observed... further strengthen the Agency's assessment that it is necessary to have access to the location at Parchin without further delay," the IAEA said.
Iran says Parchin is a conventional military facility and has dismissed the allegations about it as "ridiculous."
Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, meeting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Tehran on Thursday, was quoted by Iranian state TV as saying: "The West has put sanctions on Iran for years, however the Iranian nation continues to resist and make progress."
A Western diplomat said the doubling of enrichment capacity at Fordow was a "worrying trend," showing that Tehran continued to expand its program.
Reuters contributed to this report.
More world stories from NBC News:
- Assad stays cool amid reports of bread-line slaughter
- Ex-Marine on her journey from homelessness to the Paralympics
- Red Cross halts most Pakistan aid in wake of beheading
- Unexploded WWII bomb disrupts Amsterdam airport
- Pakistani Christians live in fear after girl's blasphemy arrest
- 'A less polar pole': Arctic sea ice at record low
- Botched restoration turns Spanish church into tourist attraction