Uranium enrichment appears stalled in Iran

Friday, January 12, 2007

VIENNA, Austria -- Iran's uranium enrichment program appears stalled, leaving intelligence services guessing about why the country has not made good on plans to press ahead with activities the West fears could be used to make nuclear arms, diplomats said Thursday. Outside monitoring of Iran's nuclear endeavors is restricted to International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of declared sites, meaning there are significant blind spots for both the IAEA and intelligence agencies. Still, Tehran's reluctance to crank up activities at its declared enrichment site at Natanz when it seems to have the technical know-how for at least experimental work is puzzling the diplomatic and intelligence communities -- with some saying it was potentially worrisome.

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