Feinstein discusses Iranian nuclear facility

President Barack Obama and leaders of France and Britain accused the Islamic republic on Sept. 25 of clandestinely building an underground plant to make nuclear fuel that could be used to build an atomic bomb.

California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said the statements by the leaders provided a strong and forceful call for Iran to sit down and enter into a serious negotiations.

"The facility at Qom has been known for some time, and the fact that Iran has never carried out, before now, its responsibility to inform the International Atomic Energy Agency poses a serious concern for the West," Feinstein said.

"Now is the time for Iran to provide the guarantees that are necessary to ensure that it is not entering into any enrichment of uranium for military purposes, and to open its facilities to inspection by the IAEA."

Iran's newly revealed uranium enrichment plant is a heavily guarded, still-unfinished underground facility in the arid mountains near the holy city of Qom that will be able to produce nuclear fuel -- or the payload for atomic warheads, Western intelligence officials and diplomats said, according to The Associated Press.