Iran Ramping Up Enrichment Efforts

Every day brings Iran that much closer to having the means and wherewithal to build nuclear weapons. Its centrifuges are spinning furiously away enriching uranium to ever higher levels and it is merely a function of time before the enriched uranium can be made into weapons grade.

All the while, the Iranian regime claims that they will be further expanding their enrichment efforts. They want to build a total of 10 enrichment facilities around Iran, which should be a clarion call for the world to scrutinize every inch of the country for illicit nuclear weapons programs. At the same time, the Iranian nuclear reactor at Bushehr is set to go live, with an assist from the Russians:

Iran plans to begin construction of 10 uranium enrichment centers across the country by next year, state-run media is quoting Iran's nuclear chief as saying.

After a cabinet meeting Sunday, Ali Akbar Salehi told IRIB, a state network, that work on one of the centers will be started by March 2011.

Over the weekend, a top Iranian lawmaker defended his nation's right to enrich uranium in the future after Iran and Russia confirmed that Russians will start loading a nuclear reactor in the Islamic republic with fuel next week.

The August 21 arrival of fuel at the Bushehr facility, which Iran says will create atomic energy but other nations fear could be used for nuclear weapons, marks a key step toward its completion, Russia said Saturday, according to Iranian media.