Iran recently made waves by admitting to the existence of a clandestine uranium enrichment facility outside the city of Qom. This week, United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Leon Panetta revealed that America had actually been aware of the “secret” facility for some time. In an interview with Time Magazine , Panetta said he had been briefed on the facility in January, after being confirmed as the latest CIA head. America first suspected that the Qom plant was used for nuclear activity in 2006, he said. Agents first noticed the Qom site due to unusual activity in the area, including the installment of an anti-aircraft battery. The U.S. worked with Britain and France to monitor the facility. Israeli agents were involved in preparing a report on the plant, Panetta said. He did not give further details regarding Israeli involvement in the affair. "Our body of knowledge, based on multiple sources, grew to the point that allowed us earlier this year to reach the high-confidence conclusion that this was a covert nuclear facility,” Panetta revealed. U.S. leaders decided to withhold their knowledge of the plant's existence for months, preferring to reveal what they knew in a meeting with Iran and China, France, Germany, Russia and Britain. If the meeting had been canceled, U.S. President Obama planned to discuss the Qom plant in his speech to the UN General Assembly, according to Panetta. Iranian officials took the initiative in revealing the Qom facility shortly before the scheduled meeting – apparently after discovering that their clandestine activities had been discovered.
