Iran has begun uranium enrichment at an underground site built to withstand possible air strikes, a leading hardline newspaper has reported.
The operations at the bunker-like Fordo facility south of Tehran, reported by the Kayhan newspaper, are small compared with Iran's main enrichment site. But the centrifuges are considered more efficient and are shielded from aerial surveillance and protected against air strikes by up to 90 metres of mountain rock.
Uranium enrichment is at the core of the international standoff over Iran's nuclear programme. The US and its allies fear that Iran could use its enrichment facilities to develop high-grade nuclear material for warheads. Iran claims it only wants nuclear reactors for energy and research.
The Kayhan, which is close to Iran's ruling clerics, said engineers had begun injecting uranium gas into sophisticated centrifuges at the Fordo facility near the city of Qom.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/09/iran-enriching-uranium-underground-bunker?newsfeed=true
