Israel: Report on Iran nukes raises alarm

JERUSALEM -- Israeli officials said on Friday that a new United Nations report adds credibility to their warnings about Iran, as tensions grow between the Jewish state and its allies over how to tackle Tehran's suspect nuclear program.

The report by the UN nuclear agency, which emerged Thursday, concluded that Iran had stepped up the installation of centrifuges capable of making weapons-grade material in an underground bunker at its Fordo underground facility, safe from most aerial attacks.

The UN report also said Iran has effectively shut down inspections of a separate site -- the Parchin military complex -- suspected of being used for nuclear-weapons-related experiments, by shrouding it from spy satellite view with a covering.

It drew rapid criticism from Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, who said Friday that the assertion about Parchin "does not make any technical sense." Iran denies the West's claims that it is seeking to develop weapons but its government makes no secret that it sees expansion of its nuclear program as a right.

"The [UN] report confirms what Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu has been talking about for years now, that the Iranian nuclear program is designed to achieve a nuclear weapon," an Israeli official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Israel has been weighing unilateral military action against Iranian nuclear facilities amid faltering international efforts to persuade Tehran to scale back its uranium enrichment, a process that would be key to bomb-making.

The United States opposes Israeli strikes. The strain between Washington and its longtime Israeli ally has been on full display in August, with a top U.S. military officer, Gen. Martin Dempsey, twice speaking out against a go-it-alone strike. Many Israeli officials see this reluctance as linked to the strength of American airpower, which can successfully hit more difficult targets and gives Washington a greater window for action.