IAEA: Iran bought documents on enriching uranium
November 18, 2005
VIENNA, Austria-- Iran gave the U.N. nuclear monitoring agency documents it obtained on the black market that diplomats said Friday seemed to be part of a design for a nuclear warhead.
The papers obtained from a network run by a Pakistani scientist showed how to cast highly radioactive uranium into a form that could be used to build the core of an atomic bomb, the diplomats said.
The revelations came as Iran said it had begun converting a second batch of uranium into gas, a step that brings it closer to producing the enriched uranium used to either generate electricity or build bombs.
The European Union, with U.S. support, has been calling on Iran to halt conversion since August. But the nation's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, told state TV the country had started converting a second batch of uranium.
"This job is done and the plant is continuing its activity," Larijani said in the interview recorded late Thursday and broadcast Friday.
He added that Iran had informed the U.N.'s nuclear monitoring agency of the development.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday that Iran received the detailed designs from the network run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program. His network supplied Libya with information for its now-dismantled nuclear weapons program that included an engineer's drawing of an atomic bomb.
The document given to Iran showed how to cast "enriched, natural and depleted uranium metal into hemispherical forms," said a confidential IAEA report. IAEA officials refused to comment on the implications of the finding.
But diplomats close to the agency said it could indicate a design for the core of a nuclear warhead. The report said Iran insisted it had not asked for the designs but was given them anyway by members of the nuclear network-- something an official close to the agency said the IAEA was still investigating.
The diplomats requested anonymity in exchange for discussing the confidential report seen by The Associated Press. The document was prepared for Thursday's meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board, which could decide to refer Tehran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions for violating an international nuclear arms control treaty.
Most board nations are concerned that Iran has resumed uranium conversion-- a precursor to enrichment-- and has refused to meet all IAEA requests about a nuclear program that was clandestine for nearly 20 years until discovered three years ago.
The United States insists Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons, while Iran maintains its program is strictly for generating electricity.
The chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA, Gregory L. Schulte, said Washington was "very concerned" about the find, along with the "large cache of documents uncovered by the agency" showing detailed instructions on how to set up uranium enrichment facilities.
"This opens new concerns about weaponization that Iran has failed to address," he told reporters.
The report said Iran had handed over black-market documents revealing detailed instructions on setting up the complicated process of uranium enrichment. Khan has acknowledged selling secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
One diplomat said on condition of anonymity that the information on designing the warhead core was less comprehensive than full documentation on how to make a weapon given Libya. But he said the find was important for the investigation of Iran's nuclear program and for an understanding of "what the network could offer" its customers.
Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said the IAEA report contained no new information, and Pakistan had cooperated with IAEA investigators. She would not say to what extent Khan had cooperated with Iran to help it acquire nuclear technology.
The report also suggested Iran had something to hide, saying it continues to refuse access to a sensitive site where it could be storing equipment that could help investigators determine whether the military is running a secret nuclear program.
It said more transparency by Tehran was "indispensable and overdue" as agency inspectors try to determine if Iran's military secretly ran its own nuclear program parallel to a civilian one.
Inspectors needed access both to more details on Iran's enrichment activities and a site where it is believed to be warehousing equipment that could be used in a weapons program, the document said.
"There still remain issues to be resolved" in connection with whether the military was supplied with centrifuge technology in the mid-1990s and then conducted secret enrichment activities between 1995 and 2002, it said.
The report said the key outstanding issues concerning Iran's nuclear program include whether the military was involved in enrichment, access to the military site where the "dual use" equipment was believed held and greater access to individuals involved in the enrichment program.
"Transparency measures should include the provision of information and documentation related to the procurement of dual-use equipment and permitting visits to relevant military-owned workshops and R&D locations thought run by the military," the report said.
The agency is "still awaiting additional visits," both to the military site at Lavisan-Shian, just outside Tehran, and to Parchin, which IAEA inspectors visited for the second time a few weeks ago.
Larijani said Iran refused to give inspectors access to Lavisan, on the northeastern outskirts of Tehran, last month.
"To visit some places, the inspectors' wish is not sufficient. They cannot force Iran to allow a visit to any place, particularly in military areas," Larijani said.
Source: http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/iran18b.html
November 18, 2005
VIENNA, Austria-- Iran gave the U.N. nuclear monitoring agency documents it obtained on the black market that diplomats said Friday seemed to be part of a design for a nuclear warhead.
The papers obtained from a network run by a Pakistani scientist showed how to cast highly radioactive uranium into a form that could be used to build the core of an atomic bomb, the diplomats said.
The revelations came as Iran said it had begun converting a second batch of uranium into gas, a step that brings it closer to producing the enriched uranium used to either generate electricity or build bombs.
The European Union, with U.S. support, has been calling on Iran to halt conversion since August. But the nation's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, told state TV the country had started converting a second batch of uranium.
"This job is done and the plant is continuing its activity," Larijani said in the interview recorded late Thursday and broadcast Friday.
He added that Iran had informed the U.N.'s nuclear monitoring agency of the development.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday that Iran received the detailed designs from the network run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program. His network supplied Libya with information for its now-dismantled nuclear weapons program that included an engineer's drawing of an atomic bomb.
The document given to Iran showed how to cast "enriched, natural and depleted uranium metal into hemispherical forms," said a confidential IAEA report. IAEA officials refused to comment on the implications of the finding.
But diplomats close to the agency said it could indicate a design for the core of a nuclear warhead. The report said Iran insisted it had not asked for the designs but was given them anyway by members of the nuclear network-- something an official close to the agency said the IAEA was still investigating.
The diplomats requested anonymity in exchange for discussing the confidential report seen by The Associated Press. The document was prepared for Thursday's meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board, which could decide to refer Tehran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions for violating an international nuclear arms control treaty.
Most board nations are concerned that Iran has resumed uranium conversion-- a precursor to enrichment-- and has refused to meet all IAEA requests about a nuclear program that was clandestine for nearly 20 years until discovered three years ago.
The United States insists Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons, while Iran maintains its program is strictly for generating electricity.
The chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA, Gregory L. Schulte, said Washington was "very concerned" about the find, along with the "large cache of documents uncovered by the agency" showing detailed instructions on how to set up uranium enrichment facilities.
"This opens new concerns about weaponization that Iran has failed to address," he told reporters.
The report said Iran had handed over black-market documents revealing detailed instructions on setting up the complicated process of uranium enrichment. Khan has acknowledged selling secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
One diplomat said on condition of anonymity that the information on designing the warhead core was less comprehensive than full documentation on how to make a weapon given Libya. But he said the find was important for the investigation of Iran's nuclear program and for an understanding of "what the network could offer" its customers.
Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said the IAEA report contained no new information, and Pakistan had cooperated with IAEA investigators. She would not say to what extent Khan had cooperated with Iran to help it acquire nuclear technology.
The report also suggested Iran had something to hide, saying it continues to refuse access to a sensitive site where it could be storing equipment that could help investigators determine whether the military is running a secret nuclear program.
It said more transparency by Tehran was "indispensable and overdue" as agency inspectors try to determine if Iran's military secretly ran its own nuclear program parallel to a civilian one.
Inspectors needed access both to more details on Iran's enrichment activities and a site where it is believed to be warehousing equipment that could be used in a weapons program, the document said.
"There still remain issues to be resolved" in connection with whether the military was supplied with centrifuge technology in the mid-1990s and then conducted secret enrichment activities between 1995 and 2002, it said.
The report said the key outstanding issues concerning Iran's nuclear program include whether the military was involved in enrichment, access to the military site where the "dual use" equipment was believed held and greater access to individuals involved in the enrichment program.
"Transparency measures should include the provision of information and documentation related to the procurement of dual-use equipment and permitting visits to relevant military-owned workshops and R&D locations thought run by the military," the report said.
The agency is "still awaiting additional visits," both to the military site at Lavisan-Shian, just outside Tehran, and to Parchin, which IAEA inspectors visited for the second time a few weeks ago.
Larijani said Iran refused to give inspectors access to Lavisan, on the northeastern outskirts of Tehran, last month.
"To visit some places, the inspectors' wish is not sufficient. They cannot force Iran to allow a visit to any place, particularly in military areas," Larijani said.
Source: http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/iran18b.html
