Iran used stocks of high-quality uranium gas from China in order to hasten a breakthrough in enrichment for a programme the West fears could be hiding nuclear weapons work, diplomats told AFP.What does China think it can gain from siding with the mad mullahs? Oil certainly comes to mind, but have the Chinese thought of the long term costs of letting the Iranians have the wherewithall to produce nuclear weapons on its own.
"The Iranians have sought to accomplish a technological achievement for political purposes and chose the Chinese feedstock gas because of its quality, which ensures a better (uranium) enrichment process," said a diplomat with access to intelligence sources.
The diplomat, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, said Iran had "wanted to declare it had done uranium enrichment and were in a hurry," as they wanted to have a fait accompli before the UN Security Council could move against them once an April deadline fell.
The Security Council had given Iran until April 28 to halt enrichment, which makes fuel for nuclear power reactors but can also produce the raw material for atomic bombs.
A second diplomat said Iran had indeed used uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas supplied by China to feed a 164-centrifuge cascade, or array of machines, that enriches uranium.
But the diplomat said Iran had also tried out some of its own UF6, which intelligence sources say is believed to contain contaminants that can cause centrifuges to crash.
Although Iranian UF6 has gotten better, the Iranians are "trying to create facts on the ground that are not there," non-proliferation analyst David Albright said. He said the Iranians have not yet mastered enrichment and still "have a lot of tests to do."
Pamela notes that a dark cloud is looming - and Iran is making overtures towards Syria.
Technorati: iran, uranium, enriched uranium, iaea, china.
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