Iran plans 10 new enrichment plants

Iran has earmarked potential sites for 10 new nuclear enrichment plants. Construction on two of them could begin this year. The plan was announced in November. Iran wants to produce enough enriched uranium to yield about 20-thousand megawatts of electricity a year. But experts doubt that the sanction-bound country would be able to equip and operate 10 new plants. Iran has problems obtaining materials and components abroad.

And tension in the region now includes the airways. Iran has threatened to ban airlines from using its airspace unless they refer to the waterway between Iran and Arab states as the Persian Gulf. The warning seems directed at airlines based in the Gulf Arab countries and flying into Iran. But a Greek employee at an Iranian airline has been fired for using the term "Arabian Gulf" on a display board.

Photographers take pictures of machines using processed uranium  at the Isfahan nuclear facility in southern Iran. Iran says it  is considering plans to start building two new uranium enrichment  plants from March, with the sites concealed in the mountains to  avert air strikes. (AFP/File/Behrouz Mehri)