IAEA, Iran in silent standoff over nuclear probe

By Mark Heinrich

VIENNA (Reuters) - Relations between Iran and an international inquiry into its suspected atomic bomb research have deteriorated so much that there has been no contact between them for over two months, U.N. officials said on Wednesday.

"We had gridlock before but then at least we were talking to each other. Now it's worse. There is no communication whatsoever, no progress regarding possible military dimensions in their program," a senior U.N. official said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meanwhile presented its latest report on Iran, saying it planned to start installing another 3,000 centrifuges early next year, adding to 3,800 already enriching uranium and another 2,200 being gradually introduced.

But the U.N. watchdog's figures showed Iran had not boosted the number of centrifuges regularly refining uranium since reaching the 3,800 level in September. The reason for Iran's relatively slow progress was unclear, U.N. officials said.

Iran says its program is for generating electricity. The West suspects a covert bid to develop nuclear weapons and analysts believe it could be as little as one or two years from enriching uranium to use in an atom bomb, if it so chose.

Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, told Reuters in Tehran the report showed Iran had "provided necessary access" for U.N. inspectors in the framework of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and IAEA safeguards.

"Naturally in the future also the agency's access and inspections within the same framework will continue," he said.

The IAEA is looking at U.S. intelligence suggesting Iran in the past linked projects to process uranium for atomic fuel, test high explosives at unusually high altitudes and revamp the cone of a Shahab-3 missile in a way that would fit a nuclear warhead.

The last IAEA report on September 15 detailed Iranian non-cooperation with agency requests for documents and access to sites to verify its denials. U.N. officials said at the time the IAEA had "reached gridlock" with Iran.

Iran says the U.S. data is forged and sites the IAEA wants to visit are conventional military facilities any nation would keep off-limits on security grounds.

The investigation has not progressed an inch since then with both the agency and Iran standing their ground with arms crossed, said the U.N. officials, who asked for anonymity due to political sensitivities.

"Our questions are there and they need to be addressed. There is no point in writing them again every week. We are just awaiting their response," said one senior official. "But we have a long vacuum of communication now."

In June, Iran said it had turned over more than 200 pages of documents to the IAEA which had answered all relevant questions and added: "The matter is over." The IAEA does not agree. So far the United Nations has imposed three rounds of sanctions against Tehran over the nuclear issue.

(Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Tehran, Writing by Mark Heinrich and Edmund Blair, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)