Vienna - Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency it is building a second, previously unknown, uranium enrichment plant, the IAEA confirmed in Vienna on Friday. Iran admitted to the site after finding out that Western intelligence agencies knew about the project, a diplomat briefed on intelligence findings said.
US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were planning to issue a statement on this issue in Pittsburgh at the summit of the Group of 20 major economies at 8:30 am (1230 GMT), according to a diplomat of one of the involved countries.
The revelation came at a sensitive juncture in Tehran's relations with China, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, which are preparing for talks with Iran on October 1 in Geneva, aimed at improving relations, but also at touching on that country's controversial nuclear programme.
At the same time, Obama won support from China and Russia this week for considering new sanctions against the Islamic state, should the six countries' Geneva talks with Iran not bear fruit.
Until now the international community was only aware of the operating enrichment plant in Natanz, which some countries fear could one day be used to make material for nuclear arms.
Under IAEA regulations, Tehran would have been obliged to inform the nuclear agency about such projects as soon as a decision is taken to build it. However, Iran has previously declared it is not following this rule.
The new facility is located near Qom, a town south of Tehran, the diplomat briefed on the intelligence said, and is big enough to house 3,000 centrifuges.
"That is what is needed to make (material for) a bomb a year, but not enough for a nuclear reactor," he said.
Tehran maintains that it is enriching uranium only as fuel for nuclear electricity generation.
The information about the Qom site was contained in a letter sent Monday to the Vienna-based IAEA. The letter did not provide the location of the new plant, but said additional information would be provided "in an appropriate and due time."
The level of enrichment indicated in the letter would mean Iran was enriching uranium to a standard for use in nuclear power plants, but not in nuclear weapons.
"In response, the IAEA has requested Iran to provide specific information and access to the facility as soon as possible," IAEA spokesman Marc Vidricaire said.
"It's catastrophic," said Andreas Persbo, a London-based nuclear arms control expert, reacting to the revelations.
"It just shows that the worst fears of hawks in Western intelligence agencies have come true," he said.
A number of nuclear arms experts have described a scenario in which Iran would use a secret installation to make material for a nuclear bomb, while letting the world believe the known Natanz site is the only enrichment facility it has.
The UN Security Council has applied three rounds of sanctions on Iran in an unsuccessful effort to get the country to stop its enrichment activities at Natanz.
"One would have to judge this as a determined signal from Iran to press on, despite what the six countries or the Security Council says," a European diplomat said.
The diplomat briefed on Western intelligence said the plant was unlikely to start operating before next year, while another diplomat said it seemed Iran would need at least 6 months to start running the facility.
Construction at the Qom site likely began two years ago, Persbo said, adding that there had been talk about a possible secret nuclear facility among London diplomats and experts for quite some time.
According to the IAEA, no nuclear material has likely been introduced at the newly disclosed location, and a diplomat said no equipment for enrichment had been installed yet.
All diplomats speaking with the German Press Agency
