Iran digs in on underground nuke facility
September 23, 2014 01:18
In a setback to Iran nuclear talks, Tehran is again rejecting US demands it repurpose an underground uranium enrichment site after what it says are Israeli threats from the air to another enrichment plant, diplomats told The Associated Press today.
The US wants the site near the city of Fordo, southwest of Tehran, shut down or converted to a purpose other than uranium enrichment because the plant is dug deep into a mountain.
Because of that, Washington, and Iran's arch-foe Israel, fears the fortified plant is impervious to an air attack. Centrifuges enriching uranium can churn out material ranging from low-level reactor fuel to the fissile core of a
nuclear weapon.
What to do with the Fordo plant has been a central point of months of negotiations between Iran, the US and five other world powers aimed at reducing Iran's ability to make an atomic weapon in exchange for an end to crippling economic sanctions.
Iran denies it wants nuclear arms and was reportedly engaging on US proposals on reconfiguring the site at previous negotiating rounds.
But that has changed at the most recent session, which began Friday, said two diplomats, who demanded anonymity because their information is confidential.
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