Iran uranium enrichment plants under IAEA watch - envoy

All IRI nuclear activities are under IAEA watch, including those at a new uranium enrichment bunker at Fordo, Iranian envoy to International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh said on Monday, IRNA reported. 'All nuclear activities, notably uranium enrichment at Natanz and Fordo, are under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency,' he underlined. The UN atomic agency confirmed Monday that Iran has started enriching uranium at a new site in a difficult-to-bomb mountain bunker. "The IAEA can confirm that Iran has started the production of uranium enriched up to 20 percent... in the Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant," International Atomic Energy Agency spokeswoman Gill Tudor said in a statement. Fordo, a reinforced facility sunk deep under a mountain 150 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Tehran. Natanz, which is also a hardened target though more vulnerable than Fordo, is already operating with some 8,000 centrifuges working to enrich uranium. Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.