Inside Irans Nuclear Program

Western Scientists Intrigued...
Barbed wire and antiaircraft guns ring a maze of buildings in the Iranian desert that lies at the heart of the West's five-year standoff with Tehran over its program to enrich uranium. It is a place of secrets that Iran loves to boast about, clouding the effort's real status and making Western analysts all the more eager for solid details and clues. Tehran insists that its nuclear plans are peaceful. But Washington and its allies see a looming threat. The sprawling site, Natanz, made headlines recently because Iran is testing a new generation of centrifuges there that spin faster and, in theory, can more rapidly turn natural uranium into fuel for reactors or nuclear weapons. The new machines are also meant to be more reliable than their forerunners, which often failed catastrophically.

President Ahmadinejad's Natanz Visit Photos