PITTSBURGH, PA - U.S. President Barack Obama flanked by U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy accused Iran on Friday of building a secret underground uranium enrichment facility.
They said presented intelligence they’ve gathered for years to the International Atomic Energy Agency to force Iran correct its actions.
“The size and configuration of this facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program,” Obama said. It deepens a “growing concern” that Iran is refusing to live up to its international responsibilities and reveal all nuclear-related activities, the President said.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada is “deeply troubled” by the revelation and urged the IAEA to investigate the facility. “A regime that abuses its own people, crushes democratic desires and shows little regard for its neighbours is a threat to the world community should it acquire nuclear weapons,” Harper said.
Canada will be very supportive of “whatever actions are necessary” to deal with the tremendous threat, he said.
The Americans say they divulged sensitive intelligence to ensure they had “very strong evidence, irrefutable evidence” that Iran was building an enrichment plant, a White House official said.
The facility near Qom, is not yet operation and is too small to make commercial sense, said the official. “But, if you want to use the facility in order to produce a small amount of weapons-grade uranium, enough for a bomb or two a year, it's the right size.”
Americans believes Iran recently discovered its facility was being spied upon.
In New York, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad charged his country has not broken any rules. Ahmadinejad said UN nuclear agency’s rules state it must reveal its nuclear facilities six months before they become operational and this plant is 18 months away from being operational.
He refused to answer whether Iran has sufficient enriched uranium for to make a bomb.
This is the second disclosure of a secret Iranian enrichment site Americans have made. After they revealed knowledge of the first site in 2002, officials said they kept a close watch on the country fearing it would begin constructing a new facility.
Iran is scheduled to meet with the five permanent members of the Security Council - the U.S., France, United Kingdom, China and Russia – as well as Germany on October 1.
In Pittsburgh for the G20 summit, the leaders said Iran could face sanctions if it does not “negotiate seriously.”
“We are committed to demonstrating that international law is not an empty promise,” Obama said.
althia.raj@sunmedia.ca
-With files from the Canadian Press
