TEHRAN, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- A leading Iranian newspaper reported Sunday Iran has begun enriching uranium at a new underground site, but the report was contradicted by an official.
Built into a mountain near the city of Qom, which is holy to Shiite Muslims, the Fordo nuclear complex has more sophisticated centrifuges to enrich uranium, and is better protected from possible airstrikes than a facility in central Iran, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The Kayhan daily said in a front-page report Sunday, "The transfer of uranium enrichment to Fardo means that the option of a military threat against the nuclear program of Iran is taken off the table for good. The West will have to gradually accept the immunity of the program against any interference by foreigners."
However, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Fereydun Abbasi, told the semiofficial Mehr News Agency Saturday the Fordo facility would start up "in the near future," the Times report. A Farsi language report on Abbasi's comments went even further, leaving it ambiguous whether the plant would start operations soon or simply hold a ceremony marking its opening, the Times reported.
The Times said the two seemingly contradictory reports could not be immediately reconciled.
