ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: A7
21August2010 2:55pmEDT
GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Iran reiterated Saturday that an attack against its Busheher nuclear plant would be considered an �international crime,� now that it has become operational. Iran celebrated the loading of enriched uranium into the reactor for the first time Saturday.
Meanwhile, the United States sought to reassure Israel and other Middle Eastern countries, saying that it posed �no threat� to anyone's security. "We recognize that the Bushehr reactor is designed to provide civilian nuclear power and do not view it as a proliferation risk,� Darby Holladay of the U.S. State Department told news agencies. And in fact, he said, the U.S. welcomed Russia's involvement in Iran's nuclear program. Iran's reactor, he said, �is under IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards and Russia is providing the needed fuel and taking back the spent nuclear fuel, which would be the principal source of proliferation concerns.�
However, while the threat is not immediate, Israel was not out of the woods � with Obama administration officials saying that Iran could, if it wanted to, develop nuclear weapons in about 12 months, perhaps a bit more.
The Bushehr plant is supposed to produce electricity from the uranium being supplied by Russia, and Iranian officials said that the power produced by the plant will be integrated into the country's fuel supply within several months. The Bushehr fuel is enriched to approximately 3.5%, while weapons-grade fuel is enriched to over 90%. However, it is possible to take some of the fuel and enrich it further at another location, giving rise to fears that international supervision is needed for a country whose leader has expressed plans to destroy Israel.
