Brazil's Amorim: Iran Could Stockpile Uranium For Bomb

BRASILIA (Dow Jones)--Iran could accumulate sufficient uranium to build a crude nuclear weapon within a period of eight to nine months, Brazilian Foreign Relations Minister Celso Amorim said Tuesday.

Speaking at a Brazilian Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Amorim estimated that Iran would need to accumulate only an additional 800 kilograms of enriched uranium to build a bomb even if it did follow through with a uranium swap recently proposed in an accord with Brazil and Turkey.

"I'm not a specialist in atomic bombs, but according to the best information I have, 2,000 kilos of uranium would be needed to produce a rudimentary atomic bomb, supposing there is no inspection or that the uranium isn't controlled," he said.

Last month, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan struck a deal with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that would allow Iran to swap lightly enriched uranium for more highly enriched supplies. Under the deal, Iran would agree to ship 1,200 kilograms of low-enriched uranium for storage in Turkey and receive fuel rods from 20% enriched uranium to use for medical-research purposes. The deal, however, would leave Iran with approximately 1,200 kilograms of uranium that it had enriched locally.

Despite recognition that Iran could produce a weapon, Amorim argued that the Brazilian-Turkish accord was an important first step to defuse international tensions over Iran's nuclear program.

"Brazil has an interest in finding a peaceful solution," he said.

Amorim said that members of the U.S. government had recently encouraged Brazil to establish dialogue with Iran regarding its nuclear program.

In spite of that claim, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week said the U.S. had "serious disagreements with Brazil's diplomacy vis-a-vis Iran."

Amorim Tuesday said he believed Clinton's statements were a result of disbelief that Brazil and Turkey could make any headway in talks with Iran.

Brazil and Turkey hold temporary seats on the United Nation's Security Council, which is studying a proposal to impose economic sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program.

A vote for sanctions must be approved by 10 of 15 Security Council members in order to take effect.

-By Gerald Jeffris, Dow Jones Newswires; (5561) 3335-0832; gerald.jeffris@dowjones.com