Official: Probe backs Iran on nuke claims
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-10 09:02

Iranian claims that weapons-grade uranium entered the country from outside, instead of being produced by Tehran as alleged by Washington, appears to be strengthened by initial results of the latest investigation, a diplomat said Thursday.

Traces of weapons-grade uranium on centrifuge parts provided by Pakistan appear to match the uranium found on centrifuges bought by Iran on the nuclear black market, said the diplomat, accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

That would strengthen arguments that the suspect traces might have arrived in Iran together with the equipment itself, as the Iranians claim.

In Washington, a State Department official withheld judgment on any preliminary results. "The bottom line is that we are looking for an IAEA report from the director general on the status of his investigation," said the U.S. official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Another diplomat, a senior official close to the agency who is familiar with the investigations, did not discount such a conclusion, but said it was too early to issue a definite judgment on the origin of the traces, which agency experts found on the equipment in Iran two years ago.

Since then, IAEA experts have been urging Pakistan to provide centrifuge components to compare the traces and assess Iran's claims of innocence. The parts were finally provided by Islamabad last month.

The senior diplomat said final results of the testing at agency laboratories would take another two weeks to a month.

Still the accredited diplomat noted that even final analysis of the parts provided last month by nuclear-weapons-state Pakistan will not definitely clear up the origin of all enriched uranium on centrifuges on Iranian soil because they are of different levels and compositions, indicating various — including possibly domestic — origins.

Both diplomats demanded anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss confidential information with reporters about the investigations into Iran's nuclear program.

Ever since the traces were found on centrifuges in the city of Natanz, in 2003, Iran has insisted they came in on the equipment from abroad. It says it is only interested in processing low-enriched uranium for power generation.

But the United States, which insists Iran's clandestine nuclear activities discovered three years ago were geared toward making arms, asserts the particles are likely evidence Iran was experimenting in producing highly enriched uranium used only for making the core of nuclear weapons.

The Americans and their allies also point to experiments with plutonium, imports of equipment that can be used for nuclear weapons program and other long-hidden Iranian activities to back their claims.

Natanz has been under agency purview since suspicions about Iran's activities prompted IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei to tour its nuclear facilities in February 2002, including the incomplete plant in that city about 300 miles south of Tehran.

Diplomats said he was taken aback by the advanced stage of a project using hundreds of centrifuges to enrich uranium. Since then, the Iranians have informed the agency of ambitious plans that included running tens of thousands of centrifuges at the facility — although that project and others linked to enrichment are on hold during Iran- European Union talks aimed at convincing Tehran to give up all enrichment ambitions.

An IAEA team arrived Thursday in Natanz to monitor the enrichment suspension, the senior diplomat said, adding he was unaware of new developments at the facility beyond routine construction work known to the agency.

IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky declined to comment on preliminary results, saying only that "testing and analysis is under way."

The diplomat with accreditation to the agency, who has a record of accuracy on issues before the IAEA, said that if final results confirm the preliminary ones, "they will partially support the Iranians" — and hurt the Americans in their drive to prove Iran's nuclear program is meant to make weapons.

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