Iran has amassed enough fissile material to build two nuclear bombs, according to the United Nations atomic watchdog. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEAs) last report before a Security Council vote on proposed new sanctions for Iran also detailed how its inspectors have been denied access to facilities. It renders obsolete Irans efforts to revive a fuel-swap deal which was aimed at delaying the moment it reaches nuclear capability. The report said Iran has continued to evade questions over evidence of weapons work while improving its uranium enrichment capabilities. Irans stockpile of low-enriched uranium stands at two tonnes, enough to arm two nuclear warheads if enriched further. The country, which has been ordered five times by the Security Council to halt enrichment until weapons questions are addressed, defied the international community to begin enriching uranium to 20 per cent, bringing it closer to weapons-grade fuel. It claims that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only and says that it needs the 20 per cent fuel to make medical isotopes. It began the higher enrichment process after the collapse of an IAEA deal to ship most of its nuclear fuel stocks abroad in return for 20 per cent fuel rods. Western countries and Russia backed that deal in the hope that it would delay the moment when Iran amassed enough fuel to be able to build a bomb. Iran rejected the deal then, but recently revived it with the backing of Turkey and Brazil, offering to ship the material to Turkey in the hope of forestalling any attempt to impose sanctions. The new report suggests, however, that the amount agreed, 1,200kg (2,650lb), would still leave Iran with enough material for one bomb. Washington has won the tentative backing of Russia and China for sanctions mostly targeting the Revolutionary Guard, the guardians of the nuclear programme, but has failed to win agreement on more stringent economic restrictions. (Times Online)