Iran Confirms Nuclear Program Receives Components From Factories

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's foreign minister on Saturday confirmed claims by an exiled Iranian opposition group that a factory west of Tehran is manufacturing centrifuge parts, but said the facility was no secret and that many other factories in the counrty were making components for Iran's nuclear program.

The comments by Ali Akbar Salehi came two days after the Mujahedeen-e Khalq announced at a press conference in Washington that its spies identified the factory, called the TABA facility, saying workers there produced centrifuge casings, molecular pumps, tubes and bellows for the centrifuges.

Iran has long said it is producing its own centrifuges for its uranium enrichment program. Enrichment can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the material for a nuclear warhead.

Salehi said the factory referred to by the Mujahedeen "is not a new discovery ... we are manufacturing parts there and this is nothing confidential."

"There are plenty of factories in the country that supply the equipment needed by ... the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran," he said Saturday, according to the state news agency IRNA.

Tehran contends its nuclear program is intended only for a civilian nuclear power program. The United States and its allies suspect it seeks the capacity to build nuclear bombs, and the United Nations has demanded Iran halt enrichment.

Comments

[Benjamin Rosenfeld]

03:01 PM on 04/13/2011

Iran, yet another earthquake prone country to flirt with fate.

[Benjamin Rosenfeld]

03:16 PM on 04/13/2011

0856 12 22 - Damghan, Iran Fatalities 200,000
0893 03 23 - Ardabil, Iran Fatalities 150,000
1727 11 18 - Tabriz, Iran Fatalities 77,000
1909 01 23 - Silakhor, Iran (Persia) - M 7.3 Fatalities 6,000
1923 05 25 - Torbat-e Heydariyeh, Iran - M 5.7 Fatalities 2,200
1929 05 01 - Koppeh Dagh, Iran (Persia) - M 7.4 Fatalities 3,800
1930 05 06 - Salmas, Iran (Persia) - M 7.2 Fatalities 2,500
1947 08 05 - Pasni, Iran - M 7.3
1953 02 12 - Torud, Iran - M 6.5 Fatalities 970
1957 07 02 - Mazandaran, Iran - M 7.1 Fatalities 1,200
1957 12 13 - Sahneh, Iran - M 7.1 Fatalities 1,130
1962 09 01 - Qazvin, Iran - M 7.1 Fatalities 12,225
1965 02 10 - Bostanabad-e Bala, Iran - M 5.1 Fatalities 20
1968 08 31 - Dasht-e Bayaz, Iran - M 7.3 Fatalities 12,000
1972 04 10 - southern Iran - M 7.1 Fatalities 5,054
1978 09 16 - Iran - M 7.8 Fatalities 15,000
1981 06 11 - southern Iran - M 6.9 Fatalities 3,000
1981 07 28 - southern Iran - M 7.3 Fatalities 1,500
1990 06 20 - Western Iran - M 7.4 Fatalities 50,000
1997 05 10 - Northern Iran - M 7.3 Fatalities 1,567
1998 03 14 - Northern Iran - M 6.6
2002 06 22 - Western Iran - M 6.5 Fatalities 261
2003 08 21 - Southeastern Iran - M 5.9
2003 12 26 - Southeastern Iran

[Benjamin Rosenfeld]

03:19 PM on 04/13/2011

2005 02 22 - Central Iran - M 6.4 Fatalities 612
2005 11 27 - Southern Iran - M 6.0 Fatalities 13
2006 03 31 - Western Iran - M 6.1 Fatalities 70

And those are just the "historic" ones.

[Hass]

11:24 AM on 04/11/2011

Wow! Amazing! Iranian nuclear parts don't just magically appear out of thin air! How about that!

[karim banned]

11:13 AM on 04/11/2011

Iran is a nuclear power capable to build anything in nuclear field that she needs. Soon or later everybody will realize that. After that the next question will arise. Why Iran refuses to build a bomb?

West wants to push Iran to make a bomb to create a pretext for another war in another oil rich Muslim county. So far Iran's government has been resisted public demand in Iran to make a bomb.

A majority of Iranians want to have the bomb after seeing what happened in Libya when Ghadafi dismantled Libya's nuclear program.

Americans should push their government to just let Iran be. If Iran become unstable, the region become unstable and $20 dollar gas at pump become a reality. It is in interests of American people to stay away from Iran, but MIC and Zionist banker cannot let Iran be, can they?

[becky bradshaw]

10:26 PM on 04/10/2011

There are many North American and European companies supplying components for Iran's Nuclear program, usually using a China middleman to provide plausible deniability (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/MC30Ad02.html). Exposure would serve to discourage this activity.

[Magic 62]

10:57 PM on 04/10/2011

No. Almost everything is developed indigenously, their power plant is Russian built, they have 4 sub critical Chinese reactors, and Argentina helped them with their medical reactor, centrifuge designs were bought from Pakistan. Israel however gets nuclear fuel and other assistance to maintain its weapon program.

[lolita]

01:08 PM on 04/18/2011

Actually, that is not accurate. Halliburton, through foreign subsidiaries, was selling Iran nuclear technology as late as 2007. The Bush Administration was aware of it and did nothing about it because of the VP. http://www.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DO0giXvhEWMo%26feature%3Dshare&h=80d73

[Amryxx]

11:08 PM on 04/10/2011

Iran's nuclear energy program is not illegal, I see no reason to discourage it.

In fact, it's better to get them quality equipment, rather than risk an accident.

[Magic 62]

11:27 PM on 04/11/2011

NPT is a two way treaty. The signatory agrees not to make bombs and allow for inspections, and in return would get technical assistance. In this deal, long before the so called nuclear crisis began in 2003, assistance stoped. Germany pulled out of the bushehr project, Eurodif, US stopped providing fuel for Tehran reactor, basically no assistance what so ever.

[pita143]

09:38 PM on 04/10/2011

The fact is Iran has Halliburton to thank for their advancements in their Nuke program. Because before the Bush Administration and during it Halliburton was supplying material to Iran for their program in direct violation of US Law.

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/2-halliburton-charged-with-selling-nuclear-technologies-to-iran/

So, in part, we have Halliburton and Dick Cheney to thank for Iran's Nuke program, and then lets thank Bush for elevating Iran to the power they have now in the region. Iraq was the one controlling Iran, but with Saddam gone, there is no one to keep Iran in check.

[Avirahim]

09:17 PM on 04/10/2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dXyD8rHmq4

[hoodwinked]

08:48 PM on 04/10/2011

Iranians and any other countries are stupid if they don't have or get the bomb. There is no better way to keep the warmongering 'Mericans' at bay.

[Amryxx]

09:08 PM on 04/10/2011

Heh... I misread your comment and thought you said "warmongering Mexicans"

[cliffhammond]

07:50 PM on 04/10/2011

Helen Thomas: "Mr. President, can you tell us which country in the Middle East has nuclear weapons?"

President Obama: "Er... ummmmm..... uhhhh.... Next question."

[cadawa]

07:19 PM on 04/10/2011

Yah, yah yah.

[CigarGod]

07:13 PM on 04/10/2011

Ooops, slow connection/fast fingers.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/174139.html

[CigarGod]

07:12 PM on 04/10/2011

Iran explain unfairness/hypocrisy in USA/West stance:

[Pashovski]

06:05 PM on 04/10/2011

Iran has been "2-5 years from getting the bomb" for over 20 years.

So all you need in order to find their weapons is a time machine.

[cadawa]

07:18 PM on 04/10/2011

Favorited. LOL

[Amryxx]

05:48 PM on 04/10/2011

So the big story is, "Iran's nuclear plants require components from other factories"?

What's next, "mother cat gives birth to kittens"?

[cliffhammond]

05:25 PM on 04/10/2011

Left unexplained in this article is that fact that the level of enrichment required to produce reactor fuel is far less than the level needed for nuclear weapons. Israel's fear is that in five years Iran will have the capability to produce the higher grade needed for weaponry and thus nullify Israel's threat in the region. Although Iran has not attacked a neighbor in over 170 years, they are no one to play with.

[CigarGod]

07:23 PM on 04/10/2011

And we should recall that in the Iraq/Iran war with 1.3 million casualties...the USA backed Iraq with 5 billion from the machinations of the White House....and Iraq used chemical weapons provided by the West...and the USA voted against condemning their use.
Iraq got 35 billion from the West.

[nenitaB]

12:05 PM on 04/11/2011

Fanned! I watched him talked, stern. ..not to be taken lightly . So long as you don't lie, you have peoples' trust .