Barak Says Iran 'Exaggerating' Nuclear Advances

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday accused Iran of "exaggerating" progress on its disputed nuclear program 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 program 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 program, but last month, Barak said such a decision was "very far away."