Iran IS secretly building nuclear bomb by hiding machinery used to enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels, report finds

IRAN is feared to be secretly building a nuclear bomb by hiding the machinery needed to enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels, a new report reveals.

Western intelligence officials say the hardline Islamic Republic is now deliberately concealing key components of its controversial nuclear programme from UN inspectors.

The equipment reportedly being hidden from sight includes essential parts and pumps for centrifuges -the machines used to enrich uranium to weapons grade.

Many of the illicit components are being being stored at secret sites which are run by the country's feared Revolutionary Guard Corps, reports the Telegraph.

The news comes just weeks after Tehran boasted it could "easily" produce the high-grade uranium needed for nukes in what was seen as a chilling new threat to the US.

Its Atomic Energy Organisation (AEOI) claimed it had the ability to enrich uranium to 90 per cent weapons-grade levels "if needed".

Earlier this month, the Sun Online also told how Iran had nearly tripled its stockpile of enriched uranium since November and now has more than enough to make a nuke.

Spies believe the hidden material – which should be declared under terms of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal -is being secretly stored in dozens of containers at various sites.

According to recent satellite images some were being kept at the AEOI’s underground uranium conversion facility at Natanz in Isfahan.

In recent months Iran's military Iran has also upped its defences around operations in Fordo, which is regarded as one of the country's key nuclear facilities.

Sources claimed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard had deployed a ‘Power 737’ missile system as well as Russian ‘SAM’ air defence missiles in the vicinity of both Isfahan and Fordo. 

“The new revelations that Iran is trying to conceal vital elements of its nuclear programme from the outside world shows that Tehran has no intention of complying with its international obligations under the terms of the nuclear deal,” one intelligence source told the Telegraph.

“It is yet another indication that the regime remains committed to acquiring nuclear weapons.”

The UK, France and Germany has already jointly slammed Tehran’s announcement it had started uranium enrichment to 20 per cent.

They called it a “clear violation” of the 2015 nuclear deal which caps its uranium purity at just 3.67 per cent.

What was the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement?

BROKERED by the Obama White House and signed by seven world powers, the Iran nuclear deal aimed to reduce the country’s ability to produce nuclear weapons.

However, Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal last year – branding it "horrible" and "one-sided".

Iran has also pledged to breach the agreement until it receives the sanctions relief it says it is owed.

The deal was an agreement between the Islamic Republic and a group of world powers aimed at scrapping the Middle Eastern country's nuclear weapons programme.

It saw Iran agree to eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium by 98 per cent.

Enriched uranium is a critical component for making nuclear weapons and in nuclear power stations and by curbing the amount Iran produce is a way to curb the number of weapons produced.

As part of the agreement, Iran also agreed to only enrich their uranium up to 3.67 per cent over the next 15 years and they agreed to reduce their gas centrifuges for 13 years.

Gas centrifuges are used to separate different types of uranium which allows specific types to then be used to manufacture nuclear weapons or generators.

Iranian nuclear facilities were limited to a single facility with only first-generation centrifuges for 10 years and other nuclear facilities had to be converted into other use.

In addition, they were barred from building any more heavy-water faculties – a type of nuclear reactor which uses heavy water (deuterium oxide) as a coolant to maintain temperatures in the reactor.

Also under the agreement, the International Atomic Energy Agency was granted regular access to all Iranian nuclear facilities to ensure Iran maintains the deal.

If Iran abided by the deal it was promised relief from the US, European Union, and the United Nations Security Council on all nuclear-related economic sanctions.

The agreement was reached on July 14, 2015, and the world powers signed it in Vienna

The increase in uranium production to 20 per cent moves the element into the category of highly enriched uranium (HEU) which can be used in bombs.

However, nuclear weapons typically use uranium enriched to around 90 per cent.

Intelligence officials believe some of the equipment now being held in the storage containers was already in Iran’s possession prior to the nuclear deal

The agreement that Tehran signed with the US, Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, allows Iran only to keep a stockpile of 202.8 kilograms.

The JCPOA promised Iran economic incentives in return for the curbs on its nuclear program.

But since former President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal unilaterally in 2018, Iran has been slowly violating the deal's restrictions. 

With the violations, Tehran has said it hopes to put pressure on the other nations involved to increase economic incentives to make up for hard-hitting sanctions imposed by Washington after the American withdrawal.

The Sun Online reported how Iran had ramped up its uranium production at underground facilities on the anniversary of General Qasem Soleimani's murder.

The powerful military chief was taken out in a US drone strike days after protesters attacked the American embassy in Baghdad.

The Pentagon justified the assassination saying he was "actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region."

Iran also released images and film of underground "missile cities" packed full of rockets and explosives as tensions in the Middle East reach fever pitch.

Images of massive hidden bases dotted all over the Islamic republic show thousands of missiles ready for launch from the secret bunkers ready to be used if "enemies make a mistake".

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