Iran moves a step closer to getting the Bomb

Photographs confirming that Iran’s heavy-water plant at Arak is now fully operational are a cause for profound concern

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...FILE -  In this Tuesday, April 8, 2008 file photo released by the Iranian President's Office, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, center, visits the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility some 200 miles (322 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran
Duplicitous conduct: Iran's President Ahmadinejad visits the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility some 200 miles south of the capital Tehran Credit: Photo: AP

The photographs published today by The Telegraph, confirming that Iran’s heavy-water plant at Arak is now fully operational, will be a cause for profound concern for those Western powers that are committed to preventing the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Most of the recent controversy over Iran’s nuclear ambitions has focused on its uranium enrichment programme. But in common with other states that have successfully developed nuclear weapons, such as India and North Korea, Iran is simultaneously conducting research into building a plutonium device. The heavy-water complex at Arak makes a vital contribution to this programme, as nuclear experts believe it has the potential to produce sufficient quantities of plutonium for an atomic bomb.

It was the revelation of Arak’s existence 10 years ago, together with that of the uranium enrichment complex at Natanz, that initiated the current stand-off between Iran and the West. For the past decade, Britain, in common with other world powers, has been trying to persuade Iran, which claims its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful and legitimate, to stop work on those aspects of the programme that could have military uses. Indeed, talks between Iran and the “P5+1” – the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany – have resumed in Kazakhstan this week after a break of nine months. The aim is to persuade Iran to freeze uranium enrichment in return for an easing of international sanctions.

The increased activity at Arak’s heavy-water facility, where international inspectors have been denied access for the past 18 months, highlights the difficulty of the negotiating process. There seems little point in trying to persuade Iran to stop uranium enrichment if it continues work on producing plutonium. But the question remains: what should – or can – we do about it?

In an article on these pages yesterday, Jack Straw, the former foreign secretary, argued that threatening Iran with military action is counter-productive, and that the West should take such an option off the table. It is true that, although the situation is grim, there are still other levers to pull: sanctions are already having a significant impact on the economy, and could be tightened further; and the West has already delayed Iran’s progress significantly via covert action. Yet while nobody wants a war with Iran, or all the hellish consequences it would stir up, the consequences of Tehran getting the Bomb remain pretty hellish, too. It is not just that ruling out military action would weaken our bargaining position – it is that if Iran continues its current duplicitous conduct, it might be the only way to prevent a still greater disaster.