The United Nations nuclear watchdog has confirmed that Iran
has started enriching uranium at an underground site and said
all atomic material there was under its surveillance.
Diplomats in Vienna, home of the UN International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), earlier said Iran had begun refining
uranium to a fissile purity of 20 percent at Fordow near the
Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Qom.
"The IAEA can confirm that Iran has started the production of
uranium enriched up to 20 percent ... using IR-1 centrifuges
in the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant," agency spokeswoman Gill
Tudor said in an e-mail.
"All nuclear material in the facility remains under the
Agency's containment and surveillance," she said.
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