(Leaders from U.S., Britain and France hold a press conference to discuss Iran's nuclear facility.)
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Pres. Obama demands Iran open plant to inspectors
President Barack Obama demanded Friday that Iran open up a previously covert nuclear fuel facility to international inspectors, saying "Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow."
Hours later, Iran's nuclear chief confirmed the existence of a new plant, which he said was still under construction, and suggested that U.N. inspectors could be allowed to visit the facility.
Obama, flanked by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said the site "deepens a growing concern" that Iran has failed to live up to its international obligations.
Obama said the "size and configuration" of the site was inconsistent with a peaceful facility, which is a direct challenge to Tehran's claim that its nuclear plants are designed for civilian purposes.
The three leaders made the announcement before the opening of the Group of 20 economic summit in Pittsburgh.
Line in the sand
Speaking after Obama, Sarkozy said Iran must comply with international demands by December or face a new round of sanctions. "Everything must be put on the table now," the French leader said.
Brown bluntly accused Iran of engaging in "serial deception" that would "shock and anger" the world.
The Western powers had "no choice but to draw a line in the sand" on Iran's nuclear program, Brown said.
Separately, Russia said Friday that Iran's construction of a second uranium enrichment plant violated U.N. Security Council decisions and should be investigated immediately by the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
A statement by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called on Iran to cooperate with the proposed probe and said Moscow remained committed to dialogue with Tehran on nuclear issues. He urged Tehran to prove that its program is intended for peaceful purposes.
The statement made no mention of sanctions. However, earlier this week, Medvedev opened the door to backing potential new sanctions as a reward to Obama's decision to scale back a U.S. missile shield in Eastern Europe.
A senior administration official said Obama told Medvedev about the facility during their meeting this week in New York. The Chinese were informed about 48 hours ago and are "just absorbing these revelations," the official said.
Before the scheduling of the Oct. 1 meeting, the U.S. had long avoided direct talks with Tehran over its nuclear program.
Raising the pressure
The Obama administration wants to ratchet up pressure on Iran on the eve of the talks to make clear that Tehran has not been forthcoming about its nuclear activities, officials told NBC.
Earlier, senior administration officials noted that the nuclear non-proliferation treaty requires countries to disclose such facilities at the beginning of construction. This plant, located about 20 miles from the holy city of Qum, would also be in violation of U.N. resolutions requiring Iran to halt enrichment activities.
U.S. officials said that the proximity to Qum would make a strike on the facility very difficult politically as it would likely spark an uproar in the Muslim world.
Later Friday, Ali Akbar Salehi, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, confirmed that Tehran was "now in the process of building" what he called "a semi-industrial plant for enriching nuclear fuel," according to the state news agency IRNA.
But Salehi, who said the plant would "be in the framework of the measures" of the International Atomic Energy Agency, gave no details on the facility, including its name or location.
Iran had previously said it was operating only one plant, which is being monitored by the IAEA.
Disclosure on Monday
Iran has kept the facility, 100 miles southwest of Tehran, hidden from weapons inspectors until a letter it sent to the IAEA on Monday, which was publicly disclosed for the first time Friday.
But the U.S. has known of the facility's existence "for several years" through intelligence developed by U.S., French and British agencies, a senior White House official said. Obama decided to gather allies to talk publicly about it after Iran's letter made clear it had become aware that Western intelligence knew of the project, officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to let the statements from Obama and the leaders remain the focus.
The plant would be about the right size to enrich enough uranium to produce one or two bombs a year, but inspectors must get inside to know what is actually going on, the official said.
Obama hopes the disclosure will increase pressure on the global community to impose new sanctions on Iran if it refuses to stop its nuclear program.
Beyond sanctions, the leaders' options are limited and perilous; military action by the United States or an ally such as Israel could set off a dangerous chain of events in the Islamic world. In addition, Iran's facilities are spread around the country and well-hidden or buried, making an effective military response logistically difficult.
The leaders did not mention military force. But Sarkozy said ominously, "Everything, everything must be put on the table now. We cannot let the Iranian leaders gain time while the motors are running."
The disclosure comes on the heels of a U.N. General Assembly meeting at which Obama saw a glimmer of success in his push to rally the world against Iranian nuclear ambitions. And it comes just days before Iran and six world powers are scheduled to discuss a range of issues including Tehran's nuclear program.
Grave development
Germany is one of those six powers, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters Friday that her country views the revelation of the second nuclear site as "a grave development" and called on Iran to answer IAEA questions about it "as quickly as possible."
She said Germany, Great Britain, France and the United States had consulted on the issue and agreed to a joint response. Merkel did not appear with Obama, Sarkozy and Brown because she had an already-scheduled meeting with Russian President Medvedev at the same time.
Address to U.N.
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, made no mention of the facility while attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week. But he insisted that his country has fully cooperated with international nuclear inspectors. Iran denies that it is enriching uranium to build a nuclear bomb — as the West suspects — and says it is only doing so for energy purposes.
However, Iran is under three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze enrichment at what had been its single publicly known enrichment plant, which is being monitored by the IAEA.
Officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was confidential, said that Iran's letter to the IAEA contained no details about the location of the second facility, such as when — or if — it had started operations or the type and number of centrifuges it was running.
But one of the officials, who had access to a review of Western intelligence on the issue, said it was underground and is the site of 3,000 centrifuges that could be operational by next year. The U.S., British and French officials provided detailed information to the IAEA on Thursday, Obama said.
"The size and configuration of this facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program," he said.
Iranian semiofficial new agency ISNA on Friday confirmed reports on a second enrichment plant.
An August IAEA report said Iran had set up more than 8,000 centrifuges to produce enriched uranium at the first facility, also underground and located outside the southern city of Natanz. The report said that only about 4,600 centrifuges were fully active.
The Islamic Republic insists that it has the right to the activity to generate fuel for what it says will be a nationwide chain of nuclear reactors.
But because enrichment can make both nuclear fuel and weapons-grade uranium, the international community fears Tehran will use the technology to generate the fissile material used on the tip of nuclear warheads.
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