Iran Dismisses Inspector Concerns While Tripling Uranium

(Bloomberg) -- Iran tripled its production of enriched uranium and rejected the international concerns about its possible pursuit of nuclear weapons that a team of United Nations inspectors carried to Tehran this week.

Amid rising tensions about its nuclear research, Iran “dismissed the agency’s concerns,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said today in an 11-page restricted document obtained by Bloomberg News. “Iran considered them to be based on unfounded allegations,” according to the document.

The report, distributed to IAEA member states, was published three days after inspectors’ talks with Iran broke down. The inspectors said Iran has increased the number of machines it’s using to enrich uranium at its Natanz complex by 14 percent and has begun enriching material at its underground Fordo complex near the holy city of Qom.

Iran is now making almost 31 pounds (14 kilograms) of 20 percent-enriched uranium a month compared with almost nine pounds (4 kilograms) in November, according to the report.

“Iran has continued to pursue its uranium enrichment program in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions without demonstrating any credible or legitimate purpose for doing so,” Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said today in an e-mailed statement.

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