Iran installing new nuclear equipment: IAEA

VIENNA: Iran has begun installing next-generation equipment at one of its main nuclear plants, a new IAEA report said Thursday, drawing condemnation from the United States, Britain and Israel five days before Iranian talks with world powers.

"On 6 February 2013, the Agency observed that Iran had started the installation of IR-2m centrifuges" at the Natanz plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency report said.

"This is the first time that centrifuges more advanced than the IR-1 have been installed" at the plant in central Iran, the UN atomic watchdog added.

One official said that Iran intended to install around 3,000 of the new centrifuges at Natanz -- where around 12,500 of the older models are installed -- enabling it to speed up the enrichment of uranium.

This process is at the heart of the international community's concerns about Iran's nuclear programme, since uranium enriched at high levels can be used in a nuclear weapon.

News of this advanced equipment drew an immediate reaction Thursday from Washington, which called it "yet another provocative step" by Iran.

The installation "would be a further escalation and a continuing violation of Iran's obligations under the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and IAEA board resolutions," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, noting however that the new centrifuges came as no surprise.

Britain expressed "serious concern" about the latest development, with Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt calling it "another signal that Iran has no intention of providing the necessary reassurance... that its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful purposes."

Israel, the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear-armed state that has refused to rule out bombing Iran, meanwhile warned that Tehran was "closer than ever" to achieving the amount of enriched uranium to make a nuclear bomb.

The report was "severe" and "proves Iran is continuing to rapidly advance to the red line" that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set as the limit the international community must allow for Iran's uranium enrichment, Netanyahu's office said.

"Preventing nuclear arms from Iran will be the first topic Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will discuss with US President Barack Obama," expected in Israel in March, it added.

Despite the developments at Natanz, the IAEA's quarterly report seen by AFP also noted that Iran has not started operating any new equipment at its Fordo plant.

Fordo is of more concern to the international community, since it is used to enrich uranium to fissile purities of 20 percent and Natanz mostly to five percent.

The ability to enrich to 20 percent is technically speaking considerably closer to 90 percent, the level needed for a nuclear weapon.