Israel :Iran 'exaggerating' nuclear advances

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday accused Iran of "exaggerating" progress on its disputed nuclear programme a day after Tehran unveiled what it said was its first domestically-produced 20-percent enriched uranium. "The Iranians are continuing to progress but what they presented yesterday was a show. There are many things which have been presented in an exaggerated manner, partly to dissuade the world from going after them," he told public radio by telephone from Tokyo. His remarks were made a day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled what was billed as Tehran's first domestically-produced, 20-percent enriched nuclear fuel for its research reactor. He also said Tehran had installed another 3,000 centrifuges to increase its uranium enrichment abilities and was stepping up exploration and processing of uranium yellowcake. "The Iranians are boasting of successes they have not achieved and they still have much to do to reach the second or third generation of centrifuges," said Barak. "The Iranians want to give the impression they were more advanced to create the impression that they have passed the 'point of no return' -- which is not true." Uranium enrichment is at the heart of an escalating dispute between Iran and the international community which fears that Iran's nuclear programme has military objectives, despite denials from Tehran. The fact that Iran had moved some of its enrichment facilities into an underground site was aimed at making it more difficult to carry out "surgical strikes" to halt it, Barak said. In recent weeks, there has been feverish speculation that Israel was getting closer to mounting a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear programme, but last month, Barak said such a decision was "very far away." On Wednesday, Japan urged Israel not to take military action against Iran, with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda warning Barak that a military strike could be "extremely dangerous," Japan's Kyodo news agency reported. But Barak refused to confirm details of his talks with the Japanese premier, saying only: "The Japanese now understand much better the situation." Over the past year, Tokyo had "drastically reduced" its imports of Iranian oil, he said, saying he hoped Japan would "continue doing this especially as the Saudis have committee to increase their oil production in the event of shortages." Tensions between the two arch-foes rose significantly earlier this week after a series of bomb incidents in India, Thailand and Georgia targeting Israeli diplomats, which Israel blamed on Tehran. Barak again accused Iran of being "the world's biggest sponsor of terrorism" and urged the international community to "respond strongly to Iran's adventurism." Thailand on Wednesday charged two Iranian nationals a day after three explosions shook Bangkok in what Thai intelligence officials said was a botched attempt to attack Israeli diplomats. The Bangkok blasts came just 24 hours after an Israeli embassy car blew up in New Delhi, seriously wounding a woman diplomat. On the same day, police in Tbilisi found another bomb attached to an embassy car which was defused before it could go off.