British intelligence played 'big part' in Iranian nuclear di

[mgt23]

Britain played a key role in gathering intelligence to expose Iran's secret nuclear facility, according to Western diplomatic sources.

Officials in Pittsburgh said today that the British intelligence services played a "big part" in the hunt for concealed uranium enrichment capacity in Iran.

French and US intelligence agencies were also involved in the operation that led to exposure of the secret underground plant. Israel was among a number of other countries aware of what was being built.

Tunnelling and other excavation began in mid 2006, but the facility will not be operational until next year according to the current intelligence reports, the sources said.


Evidence that the plant was intended to provide nuclear fuel turns on the relatively low number of centrifuges in the facility, which is near Qum, 100 miles southwest of Tehran.

The plant had capacity for only 3,000 centrifuges, less than 10 per cent of the 50,000 that would be needed to power a civil nuclear reactor, according to the diplomatic sources. If used to make weapons grade uranium the plant would yield enough for about one warhead a year.

Although Iran's nuclear capability is still assessed as being "some way off", a Western diplomat said that Tehran had all it needed in terms of technology and resources to build a bomb.

Russia was privately briefed on the intelligence yesterday and is expected to issue a statement from Moscow tomorrow. President Medvedev said he believed that sanctions were inevitable – before he knew of the secret plant. His spokeswoman said the statement was expected to be "in the same spirit" – paving the way for a united front on new sanctions that would include Moscow for the first time.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that Iran had told it that the new plant would enrich uranium to a level of 5 per cent — high enough for nuclear fuel, but not potent enough to make the fissile material for an atomic bomb.

However, Mr Obama said today: "The size and type of the facility is inconsistent with that of a peaceful facility."

This is not the first time that covert intelligence work has been used to expose Iran's nuclear plans.

Speaking after his joint press conference with President Obama, Gordon Brown said: "This is the third time they have been caught red-handed not telling the truth about their intentions."

He was referring to information unearthed by an Iranian opposition group that led to the discovery of the underground plant at Natanz in 2002 and a CIA operation to hack into Iranian computer networks in 2007.

The CIA uncovered evidence that the country had secretly tried to design a nuclear warhead. American officials believe that effort was halted in late 2003.

In advance of today's announcement, Mr Obama sent some of his most senior intelligence officials to brief Olli Heinonen, the IAEA's chief inspector. Other American diplomats and intelligence officials shared the findings with China, Russia and Germany, all of whom are important players in the negotiations with Iran.

[LatinAmericanview]

Interesting story but where is the source?

[mgt23]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 849865.ece
sorry-unlike me

[Father Brown]

Let's hear it for British Intelligence. Not! Weren't they the geniuses who found the Yellow Cake coming out of Africa for use by Saddam?

I think Iran is going to get hit hard very soon. Everything seems to be pointing in that direction.

The BS arrests over the last couple of days, Ahmademijad's speech at the UN, Netenyahu's speech, this big surprise that they have another "secret" location, etc. Also, I tuned in Fox News for a couple of seconds today to find a commercial for a group called UANI. I believe the acronym stands for United Against a Nuclear Iran. Great propaganda to get our motor running for kicking some Iranian butt!!

To top it off, I listened to the Zionist Michael Savage today for the last time. He was saying that Obama might just surprise us and do what needs to be done, i.e. bomb Iran into the Stone Age. Savage, it would appear, is in his postition to not only criticize the Communist Obama relentlessly, but to help us praise him when he does what is "right" at the last second. I believe Savage said, "when he (Obama) realizes that he has been lied to by Iran and all Arabs and Muslims in the Middle East, he will come to his senses and do what is right.  

What a charade Obama has played in pretending to have talks "without pre-conditions" with Iran. What a master of the ruse!

May God have mercy on the United States if we do the Zionist's bidding once again and slaughter a bunch of Iranians.

Not sure if this is the same ad I saw on Faux News, but it is very similar. Seems they have been busy making quite a few of these.

Unclenched Fist